Freetrade in the news šŸ—žļø

They paid Ā£0.956004 a share.

At 20p a share that would value the business around Ā£14m looking at the disclosed outstanding shares. Thatā€™s super low.

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They could be valuing it at about Ā£100m and taking account of the preference stack.

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Thatā€™s the link to the update valuations of Molten portfolio:

I checked a couple of older reports, and it seems that the VCT invested Ā£600k in 2019 and now their valuation is around Ā£300k. So the assumed share price is Ā£0.5.

Hope it make sense.

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It says there was a right down of Ā£1.8m so how does that workā€¦?

I guess Ā£600k went to Ā£2.1m then back to Ā£300k. Sounds about right.

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Yup, the Draper (Molten) invested Ā£6m. 10% was for the VCT.

You could just email Molten and ask them how theyā€™re valuing that. You could also email the listed Molten Ventures and ask them what they value Freetrade and see what they say. No guarantee theyā€™ll reply but worth a try.

All this nonsense helps no one. No one has a scooby whatā€™s going on. Trying to second guess this and that.
People need to just chill out,Molten,Left Lane etc. need to dig into their pockets and support Freetrade through this spell. Once we get through 2023 and Freetrade have opened in more countries then all will be OK!!

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20p a share that would value the business around Ā£14m

This cannot be legit lmao

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I canā€™t understand why people are getting so hung up on what freetrade might be worth, at the end of the day freetrade is not a publicly traded company which means you can pick as many valuations and numbers out of the air as much as you want but as a private company its actual value is what someone is willing to pay at the time its sold, but also itā€™s not unusual for a company to mark down huge losses on an investment its actually very common for them to do that.

The downsides are:

1, The company doesnā€™t have anything in itā€™s app that others canā€™t do or are not already doing in their own apps, and some already have features that are not in the freetrade app that people have been asking for that other apps do have, and the app performance is not great but is ok, and implementing new features is slower than it should be.

2, They are slow to add more available stocks in the app especially in UK & US stock given how long they have been going they should have significantly more of those markets available on the app and the EU stocks are incredibly low.

3, The track record of saying something and doing it but not delivering when they say they will is very high for example EU expansion has been incredibly slow and should have been up and running way before now.

4, The buying of stocks is so hit and miss as you see one price and pay a different one but they really need more accurate live prices which despite what freetrade claim they donā€™t as I have an account where I do get this and every time I go to buy a stock its never near what the app says as the price yet its always near the other account I have with live prices, and you still can only select a value to buy not a number of shares where as others give you the option of both.

5, still donā€™t allow paying members access to the web version (yes i know if you pat Ā£9.99 you get it but it should be available to all who pay a subscription)

6, It still has large losses every day and the losses will always reduce any valuation.

However having said there are the upsides.

1, Freetrade does have a good user base and they should be able to capitalise on that.

2, There are lots of potential with the EU expansion but they need to stop delaying it and do it as the more delays there are the more it will put off investors in freetrade as they have been around for a while now so the industry will no longer see them as a start up they would expect to see results by now.

3, They should expand the companies available on the app to get more people to join and by now given how long they have been going they should have more UK & US stocks, etcā€¦

4, Given the new subscription they should start generating more income which hopefully will start reducing the losses.

Overall I do love freetrade and yes I know they are not perfect and there are still a lot of things the company needs to do but hey they are slowly getting there.

Personally I think people needs to stop worrying about valuations and news stories as it means nothing until it happens and you will only find out if and when it happens but even if it did get sold I canā€™t see any reason why a new owner would change anything much as if they did they risk losing the customer base.

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@WayneSoton makes some excellent points about the pros and cons but I think the people who worry about the valuation are those who have a vested interest in their company and bought shares at X price and now see their investment being slahed by Freetrade possibly selling the business when there has been a huge market downturn.

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Interesting discussion in recent days. I agree with much of it, but not all of it.

Just one further point to add: This is effectively the lifeā€™s work of CEO Adam Dodds, and his FT shares likely represent the vast majority of his net worth (just an assumption). He is also a CFA, and a former Manager of M&A Corporate Finance for KPMG. I trust that he will approach this intelligently, and work to maximize and preserve the value of what heā€™s built.

I wish him well with the negotiations, and hope he has a number of suitors to choose from.

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I am surprised nobody mentions preference shares. Now, I have no idea about the FT share structure, but typically VCs have different class of shares as ordinary investors, which could mean that in the case of sale, they get reimbursed on their investment before the other class of shares.
Also, debt gets serviced first, I think. (Think of the last convertible round).

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around Ā£67m value of Pref Shares (Ā£35m of Series B + Ā£30m of Loan + Ā£2m of CC)

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Robinhood are down 75% from their IPO price, and roughly 80% from peak if that can be used as a guide :thinking:

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Series A are also Preferred Shares (with a much lower issue price of course).

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I think this article described the situation well back in Jun-22:

  • Natwest CEO Alison Rose said the bank was looking at purchases in the wealth sector, which amid a downturn in the sector could make purchases more appealing.
  • According to an analysis by Reuters around seven of the 13 smaller investment platforms posted losses in their most recently filed annual accounts.
  • ā€œI can see a few of the smaller platforms either coming together or maybe a major player acquiring them,ā€ Oliwia Berdak, financial services research director at Forrester, told Reuters.
  • NatWest eyes digital wealth acquisitions amid sector slowdown - AltFi

And a more recent one, translated from German, with a bit more about JPM:

  • In a Berlin co-working space, a small team has been working on one of the most exciting new banking projects in Germany for a few months. The major bank JP Morgan is building a digital bank there and has already recruited staff from fintech unicorns such as N26 and Bitpanda .
  • An insider speaks of a ā€œconsolidationā€ that is imminent. It shouldnā€™t just stay with Freetrade and Bux - other trading startups will be looking for buyers.
    the company [Freetrade] is now in a so-called dual process and is looking for new investors or a buyer. The Bank of America has mandated it for this.
    Zwei Neobroker auf KƤufersuche ā€“Ā J.P. Morgan soll Interesse an Freetrade zeigen | FinanceFWD

Itā€™s a dual process, theyā€™re looking at both Funding and M&A, possibly funding for a combined stronger company. I think weā€™re in good hands given the sudden market turnaround:

  • Freetradeā€™s Chairman sold the first Robo Advisor to IBKR, heā€™s also a fintech advisor at Google. Obviously lots of experience and contacts here.
  • Adam worked previously on Fintech M&A
  • CTO - ā€œled the Engineering org through a large PE exit, a merger, two bolt-on acquisitions and an IPOā€
  • They hired roles with transaction experience back in 2021 even before the failed Series C round and decline in tech valuations (I looked at a one but didnā€™t apply)
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Dude I bought shares in :freetrade: with my own money. The potential valuation of the company is literally an investment concern of mine (and many others)

I agree with the majority of your pro:con list though. And most of what has been said above.

Although progress has been slow this year, I still have faith in the competence of FTs board.

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I think you have missed the point that I was making in my previous post.

At the end of the day institutional investors value company based on what they think that does not necessarily mean thats the true value of the company nor does it in any way reflect the price a company would be valued at as lots of them write down investments on a regular basis.

And at the end of the day the true value of your shares in freetrade only matter at the time the business is sold or when it is listed on the stock market and you decide to sell the shares any valuations in between that are just numbers in the same way as shares in any other company you own go up and down all the time itā€™s only an issue at the point your exiting.

And just because freetrade may have had discussions with others about the company it in no way means they will sell, I expect they have discussions about selling the business a number of times since itā€™s launch that does not mean it will happen.

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I understand it a lot more than the thread on user numbers that went on for so long and was the main topic for ages. Often meaning little as it never worked out users who just got a free share.

People venting on this thread are just doing that, venting, FT will probably be many peoples biggest loss in the investing world and the irony of it being the company they joined to have a secure financial future is maddening to them.

Besides it is a forum where we chat rubbish and if we cant talk about a stock value of the company many have invested in on this thread then the forum is a waste of space surely? Most of the threads are peoples guesses etc so no reason this shouldnā€™t be the same.

edit - and funnily enough people doing that then get your response which is actually good as it informs them of the information you gave which they may not have known. So it was good they did so you gave us that useful information. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Nice to see Freetrade mentioned

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Any thoughts on this appreciatedā€¦

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