Credible founder Stephen Dash comes home for biggest ASX tech IPO of 2017

A 33-year-old Australian tech entrepreneur, who left Australia five years ago for Silicon Valley, will return home to ring the bell at the Australian Securities Exchange on Friday as his fintech company Credible becomes the biggest local tech float of the year.

Stephen Dash, a former investment director at Mark Carnegie’s private equity, venture capital and advisory firm M.H. Carnegie, already raised over $US20 million ($26.5 million) in external funding for the US-focused online student loan marketplace before raising $68 million through an initial public offering, which valued the company at $306.6 million.

Credible has carved out a potentially lucrative niche in the US market, where students have typically paid significantly higher rates for their loans. It has created an online marketplace where borrowers can seek out offers from numerous vetted lenders, and has also recently expanded into personal loans and a credit card marketplace.

Mr Dash told The Australian Financial Review the ASX had emerged as an extremely desirable listing location for overseas tech companies, and now shaped as a preferable option to venture capital and private equity for larger growth funding rounds.

He said Credible’s pre-IPO investor roadshow had demonstrated both demand to invest in the company and a heartening sophistication among local analysts and fund managers about how fast growing tech companies should be assessed.

“We went up to Hong Kong and Melbourne and Sydney, and we had a lot of support both from existing investors and new investors, because there’s not too many places you can get exposure to US fintech on the ASX,” Mr Dash said.

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Source: Credible founder Stephen Dash comes home for biggest ASX tech IPO of 2017 | afr.com