Australia ranks fifth in the world for the amount raised via new technology IPOs this year, according to deal tracker Dealogic, at a time when technology companies’ share of US listings has fallen to a seven-year low.
The US is still the biggest market by deal value, followed by the UK.
But Australia has been moving up the ranks from eighth place last year and 13th in 2013. The only other Asian country in the top five is China, at No. 3.
Those figures don’t include a recent wave of backdoor listings. In a backdoor listing, or reverse takeover, a company is able to go public by being acquired by an already publicly traded company — usually referred to as a shell company. The end of a long mining boom in Australia has created a pit of shell companies with few assets left. Many small miners have become the target of reverse takeovers by technology start-ups.
Some US firms have already struck pay dirt in Australia.
Silicon Valley-based online recruitment start-up
1-Page, which under CEO Joanna Weidenmiller listed in October last year via a reverse takeover of former nickel and gold explorer InterMet Resources, reached a high of $5.69 in September after listing at 20 Australian cents a share. It closed at $4.33 yesterday.
Australia’s deep mining history is a big part of the attraction: Investors who have survived numerous boom-and-bust commodities cycles tolerate a level of risk typically found only in venture-capital markets elsewhere.
“There’s a little bit of the gold miner in each of us,” said Stuart Foster, chief executive of Sydney-based Foster Stockbroking.
When the mining boom was in full swing, few people gave any thought to Australia as a possible hub for early-stage tech listings.
Now, young companies are coming here in a steady stream.
Some are seeking to avoid raising venture capital — where founders can lose control of their business or be forced to accept unfavourable terms. Others are attracted by low listing fees and other rules designed to make it easy for young resources companies to access capital while they are still exploring.
“We’re doing the same thing that we’ve been doing for mining start-ups for the last 100 years,” said Max Cunningham, general manager for listings at the Australian Securities Exchange, or ASX. “The resources sector is in a deep recession, so the market is increasingly looking for alternatives.”
In the year through June, 30 tech companies listed here, up from 12 in the previous financial year. In contrast, this year could witness the fewest tech public offerings in the US since 2009, with 15 new listings through August.
Not everyone is convinced Australia has struck gold, however.
“Australians understand that if you dig a hole in the ground and you find gold or iron ore and you sell it to China, you’re going to make a lot of money. They know nothing about US tech,” said Philip Alexander, an executive director at corporate advisory firm Jacanda Capital. “It seems a tad artificial that brokers from Perth are suddenly tech experts on a global scale. You wouldn’t go to a dentist to have a knee reconstruction, so why are we going into mining shells with tech stocks?”
Unlike many overseas exchanges, which require companies to meet certain profit milestones, companies can list on the ASX by meeting either a profit or an asset test. That suits tech companies that aren’t making a profit because they are spending money developing new technologies. Companies must have a minimum market capitalisation of $10 million ($US7.1 million) after a capital raising.
“To fundraise in Silicon Valley, if you go to the venture-capital market you have to raise (capital) and then raise again,” said Noah Abelson, the 29-year-old co-founder of Silicon Valley-based ShareRoot, a social-media-focused marketing company that will list on the ASX in mid-December via a reverse takeover of Monto Minerals Ltd. “They’re doing the whole unicorn thing: They’re going after billion-dollar companies.”
One recent lunchtime more than a dozen fund managers gathered in the cowhide-clad private dining room of a central Sydney steakhouse to hear Mr Abelson pitch his software platform, which helps companies, including McDonald’s and Costco Wholesale source user-generated content from social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook for use in marketing campaigns. Over lamb chops, silver-haired investors made the leap between appraising mining tenements and seeing dollar signs in “selfies.”
In many reverse takeovers, existing investors are switching hard hats for smartphones and staying on for the ride. Former Monto Minerals executive director James Allchurch, a geologist, will be a ShareRoot director.
Other US companies listing here recently include AHAlife Holdings, a New York-based online retailer, and the US-based online recruitment start-up 1-Page Ltd. Several more plan to do so, including Updater — an online platform that helps people with home moves. It hopes the ASX will lead to a future listing in the US.
Most Australian tech deals are small. Few IPOs raised more than $20 million. And though the number of overseas listings is rising, the ASX has struggled to land big local deals.
Sydney-based software tools maker Atlassian, which has been valued privately at more than $3.3 billion, made a US IPO filing public on November 9.
