I have to say I agree with @SirCaesar after processing everything in think weâre looking at it the wrong way.
Unfortunately this wasnât a sale of a successful company that could name its price. This was a sale of a distressed company that went to the only bidder at a low price. If success looks like Robinhood (21M funded users & $40B+ mkt cap) then FT failed without a shadow of a doubt.
There was a time when they had momentum, but they didnât get nearly enough users/capital to fund the running of a very low cost brokerage. Then they had to raise prices significantly, which was counter to their entire raison dâetre.
Of course we can point at things they did wrong. But there are also places they were unlucky. UK gov blocking crypto licenses was a pretty big negative IMO. And also the timing of the cost of living/ inflation crises . If that came a few months later then who knows - they may have already sold to JPM for ÂŁ700M.
But coulda shoulda woulda we are where we are and the situation is not good. Around 250K funded users and almost no growth prospects.
The competition moves fast and there isnât much FT can do to differentiate. Anything they can do, someone else can do too.
I honestly canât think of a single thing FT can do to drive growth right now.
If I google âbest brokerage apps UKâ I canât find a single mention of FT anywhere. I think it doesnât feature much outside of a bubble.
The SP diff is awful. But unfortunately this is standard in the PE world. You donât have to take VC cash but if you need it, thatâs the deal. And FT did need that cash. Iâm also pretty sure that if you invested in the convertible loan round, you got the same deal: if thatâs the case, then we canât say we werenât offered the same terms
Iâve read every comment and taken time to digest. I think this probably captures my thoughts best. JPM and Monzo were interested post the crash in the start-up world, missed round etc and articles mentioned âmany other suitorsâ when it sounded like it was effectively put up for sale. If itâs worth ÂŁ160m now after a what has been a great turnaround in performance then it is reasonable to think it was worth a lot less back thenâŠ
Faced with pennies or even a zero, this may well be this is the best deal weâd get, at least considering the risks associated with the alternatives.
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Consider the success of an IPO where lots of investors want to sell out and a certain percentage of customers leave.
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Consider a capital raise at a lower valuation than the full ÂŁ160m buyout (a buyout would typically be at a premium to a raise), heavy dilution and pressue from VCâs who get no benefit until the valuation rises to something like ÂŁ200-250m+ (ballpark depending on their share class). Also the risks of raising more preference shares, leading to more risk of pennies/a zero if the money wasnât well spent or competitive pressures were too much and the valuation stayed the same.
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Consider waiting for another offer whilst competitors gain ground and risking the markets turning around. The strong Q4 performance could be the last window to get over ÂŁ1+ per share. IG could also have had plans to create their own invest app themselves like CMC Invest and so this could have been their final offer (just speculation).
Itâs really painful, family and friends have invested at various stages. I doubt any early investors (like myself) will be celebrating. For me this crystalles a loss from a ÂŁ3.77 exit. I sold a fraction, but should have and would have sold a lot more then if it werenât for Gamestop and the tailwinds of the moment. To be fair it was really really difficuilt time to sell given that backdrop wasnât yet reflected in the price given it nearly trippled in 6 months later before missing out on the ÂŁ700m round. Brutal, even if you sold 100% at ÂŁ3.77 then youâd have to watch it at ÂŁ9 months later before eventually the decision coming out on top.
As per regulation, they have about a month to do.
I think it took more than that but itâs was Ok.
Oh ok, I had no idea about this. Still after the whole payment for order flow scandal I wouldnât trust Robinhood as far as I could throw them.
RobinHood either donât do that anymore or it has never been a difference for me as every time I have purchased shares on there it has been at the exact live price in my experience and I often also us limit orders to buy and thereâs is incredible fast for example a few months ago a share dropped for literally a second at the price i put in to buy and it did the buy.
I know when robinhood launched in the UK they did say they have been and are phasing out the payment for order flows.
I am guessing they earn so much money from all the other activities they most likely donât need order flow payments as they use too.
Payment for order flow is illegal in the UK. So donât think they can do it on any UK accounts even if youâre trading US stocks. I had thought they still do it in the US, but could be wrongâŠ
Correct they donât do it for UK customers but when the CEO was on Sky News when they were launching in the UK he did say that UK wonât be subject to it and did say they were in the process of phasing it out for the US as well.
Ah ok, nice
I just listened to a podcast from December 2021 which is a 15min interview of Viktor about crowdfunding as a great marketing strategy. Itâs episode 155 of The Shiny New Object Podcast, easy to find (for some reason I canât post a link here).
To be fair, a lot has changed since December 2021, but some quotes are quite painful to hear given the current situation.
Iâll get out of this fine, but I sympathise with others who will lose most of their money. I think itâs wrong that this transaction is celebrated as a success story. I still want to believe that past deals were done in good faith on Freetradeâs part, but canât help but feel that they got played somehow, or were not well advised regarding capital transactions and they did not anticipate the current scenario as a possible exit when they accepted preferred treatment for VC.
But in any case, todayâs narrative and interventions by Freetrade feel wrong. Lack empathy or sense of responsibility towards who were the DNA and raison dâĂȘtre of this idea that was Freetrade not so long ago.
You seem very keen to defend them 
While they might not do be able to legally do that in the UK their CEO was quoted as saying âPayment for order flow is here to stayâ in 2023 and given it accounts for so much of their revenue it seems it seems very unlikely that theyâll stop this practise.
Anyone know if IG will honor the free lifetime memberships for the early investors? Be nice if the perk continues 
I can only go by what was said on Sky when they launched in the UK.
I am not defending them I was just correcting what you had said as your comment made it sound like they use it for everyone which is incorrect and unfair, like or hate them they deserve comments which are fair and balanced.
And personally I have used them for all of my US shares since they launched in the UK and I have found them to be really good, currency exchange rate one of the best in the industry with incredibly low fee approx 0.03p per ÂŁ100, excellent 24 hour customer service, and the software is very good and informative.
Wow 101, so inspiring, cant wait to see the update
Keep grinding big boy
My guess is those participating in the big Series rounds put pressure on them to sell as the terms were better for them than if theyâd sold for a bit more money.
Crowdcube needs to start throwing their weight around more. They helped raise ÂŁ30m for Freetrade, yet their customers got worse terms than everyone else.
The last time something similar happened to me was with Pod Point. They sold earlier than expected to EDF I think, who then IPOâd them at a much higher valuation. But in hindsight that might have been a lucky escape, as although we missed out on the gains at IPO we did make some profit, and the price has cratered since to below the original crowdcube valuation.
Freetrade sale is depressing scam!
On day you invest your money in A or B shares, the next you realise that you investment created other secret types of shares that are worth more than yours! There should be ONE price per share like in a normal transaction!
Now the question is: Can I keep my money with a broker that will defraud their investors?
Shame, shame, shame Freetrade!
Itâs not a scam. Itâs totally normal.
Most people on here just donât understand the complexities of VC funding.
The share classes are detailed in the âArticles of Associationâ (AoA) available on FREETRADE LIMITED filing history - Find and update company information - GOV.UK
The issue is very few crowdfunders understood or care to understand these things. For instance did you know thereâs G-Shares and the hurdles was set to ÂŁ357,997,590 when previously Freetrade had raised at a much higher valuation? Itâs all in the AoA.
So, sure weâre all baffled because Freetrade has offered commentary over the last year in terms of progress and itâs stability that now feels strectched but accusing them of doing âsecret types of sharesâ isnât fair.
so no G shares will be issues?
One of the old âConfirmation statements / Annual returnsâ statement showed how many had been attributed to senior management but the hurdle hasnât been met and we have not heard of the hurdle being lowered (which they can with board agreement, again this is in the AoA).
Therefore, I think the G-Shares will expire. I suspect the senior management team that stays on will be incentivised with shares, which is what the G-Shares intended to do, so my reservations were not with G-Shares in principle, just the level the hurdle was set at. I wanted the hurdle to be more ambitious.
I think some of the failure is a result of not being ambitious enough, itâs like they did the hardest part, convincing the regulators and millions of people to then fall into a pattern of trodding along (no offence to the team, and I apologise in advance if you are offended).