are the only two prominent companies that have done a direct listing in the US, and some IPO experts think only similarly well-known companies can pull one off, but the bankers think the process could be used by a much broader range of startups.You might think investment bankers would be skeptical — or even downright critical — of direct listings, the process Spotify and Slack used to go public instead of holding a traditional initial public offering.
Kell and Kirkham spoke with Business Insider at the bank's Tech Innovation Summit in Silicon Valley's Menlo Park last week. Direct listings were one of the topics du jour at the event, which was attended by venture capitalists and startup founders.Troy Wolverton/Business Insider In a direct listing, by contrast, a company's early investors sell shares directly to the public via the exchange they join. The company itself doesn't raise money in the offering, and its executives don't generally go on a so-called road show to meeting with prospective IPO investors.
But Kell argues direct listing could end up being used by a much wider swath of companies than skeptics expect. While many companies do use a public offering to raise money for themselves, that doesn't have to be done through a traditional IPO, he noted. Companies could sell shares to big investors in a private placement before or after a direct listing. Or they could do what many public companies do all the time — sell shares to the public after they are already listed.
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