‘Incredible’ month for JP Jenkins as tech firms turn to unlisted securities – UKTN

JP Jenkins said it has seen an ‘incredible month’ as tech firms rushed to join the private securities marketplace.

The London-based business, the UK’s largest venue for trading unlisted equities, said it had seen a record 10 firms join its marketplace in March, taking the total to 49. The firms are worth a combined £1.84bn.

Among the businesses joining were:

• Eurovestech – the UK based investors in high growth tech firms, joined 5th March from Asset Match;
• Biome Technologies – the bioplastics and RF technology company, joined 24^th March having quit AIM;
• Innovation AgriTech – the Berkshire-based provider of vertical farming solutions, joined 20^th March as a private growth company; and
• Connected Kerb – the EV charging business that recently received a £55m investment from the UK’s National Wealth Fund, joined 17^thMarch as a private growth company.

Positioning businesses for growth in the medium to long term, preserving shareholder value and providing an updated reference valuation on the stock are all seen as key drivers by those embracing this increasingly popular secondary market solution.

Mike McCudden, CEO at JP Jenkins, said: “March has been incredible for JP Jenkins, with ten new companies having added their shares to the venue over the month.

“The pace of growth underlines the demand from issuers and investors to find innovative ways to match buyers and sellers of securities and I look forward to us delivering further success as 2025 unfolds.”

It comes after the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) unveiled its own plans to build a private stock market to give more firms access to liquidity.

LSEG CEO David Schwimmer said the market, built under an incoming new regulatory framework known as PISCES, would be “a great opportunity for investors to get access to private assets.”

“We’ve had a lot of interest from private equity firms and from private companies themselves,” he said.

“This is not just from the UK — it’s global, companies from the US, Europe and in Asia.

“I think there is clearly an issue for private companies in terms of access to liquidity…there is an opportunity for PISCEs to be a very innovative structure to address that challenge.”

The new PISCES framework would see private companies periodically access a tailored public market liquidity infrastructure for their shareholders while remaining private, with the aim of developing a vibrant ecosystem and capital markets that support scaling companies across their lifecycle and funding journey.

The UK’s financial regulator was expected to prepare a set of rules governing the new framework by May, with the hope of launching the new private market in July.

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