TECHNOLOGY
“ ALL COMPANIES WITH A VISION TO BECOME PUBLIC SHOULD ACT LIKE A PUBLIC COMPANY LONG BEFORE THEY ARE ONE ”
ROMI SAVOVA CEO , PENSIONBEE
Likewise , South Korean fintech Viva Republica – the owner of financial app Toss – is pushing its planned IPO back by two or three years , while BNPL company Klarna seems a long way from a public listing after seeing US $ 40bn wiped off its valuation .
For some companies , the time is still right for an IPO . PensionBee , which lets consumers consolidate their old pensions into a single plan , had always planned on becoming a publicly traded company . After a period of rapid growth , that moment came in April 2021 during the pandemic – and the timing may have been a blessing rather than a curse .
“ Our IPO ran mostly like clockwork ,” PensionBee CEO Romi Savova tells FinTech Magazine . “ We underwent the entire IPO process during lockdown , which in some ways was beneficial given people ’ s focus , availability and the efficiency that we could achieve . We were able to use video conferencing with great effect to connect with our team of advisors , often on an hourly basis , and to meet any new investors virtually to introduce them to our story .”