Adyen files for IPO that values fintech company up to $8.3 billion

Amsterdam-based Adyen officially filed to IPO in its home country in a deal that would value the company at up to $8.3 billion.

However, in a somewhat unusual move, the entire proceeds of the IPO will go to insiders selling stock, an amount that could go as high as $1.1 billion. The company says it will raise no money for itself in the process.

“We feel that we are still in the early stages of a remarkable journey,” said Adyen cofounder and CEO Pieter van der Does, in a statement. “Our focus remains on building new functionality and on helping our merchants grow. This offering provides us with the freedom to keep building the company while offering our shareholders a path to liquidity. Adyen will remain a company that is driven by a long-term vision and strategy.”

The Adyen IPO would be the biggest European tech public offering since the Spotify IPO that valued the Swedish company at around $26 billion. Spotify used a direct listing that also allowed its stock to be traded publicly and that raised no money for the company.

While the IPO represents a big milestone for Ayden, one of the biggest winners will be Index Ventures, the venture capital firm that backed Adyen early on and that still holds a 16.86 percent stake in the company, according to the IPO prospectus.

Adyen has raised $266 million in venture capital since it was founded in 2006. The proposed valuation is at the lower end of previous estimates that had ranged from $7 billion to $11 billion.

Of course, just because Adyen has filed is no guarantee an IPO will happen. A few weeks ago, Swedish fintech startup iZettle filed for an IPO, only to announce days later that it had been acquired by PayPal. Incidentally, Index also backed iZettle.

If Adyen does go through with the IPO, the company will point to its 38 percent revenue growth from 2016 to 2017 as a sign of its momentum. In the prospectus, Ayden said payment volumes increased 63 percent year-over-year in 2017. In addition, the company has been profitable on an annual basis from at least 2015 through the end of 2017. It was also profitable the first quarter of 2018, generating €24.1 million ($28.2 million) of net income on €316 million ($369.4 million) in revenue.

The payment processing company counts major players such as Airbnb, Uber, Spotify, and Netflix among its clients. The company says it now has 668 full-time employees.

Ayden said it would begin private placement sale of the stock between June 5 and June 12. Assuming all goes well, its stock would start trading on Euronext Amsterdam on June 13.