Wayflyer in no rush to float after becoming tech unicorn

Wayflyer, the Irish start-up that has just achieved unicorn status with a $1 billion-plus valuation, may be scaling at a fast rate but it is in no rush to float.

Speaking to The Irish Times, founders Aidan Corbett and Jack Pierse said that given how much the company is worth an initial public offering (IPO) is likely at some stage but not in the immediate future.

“I think once you get to the valuation we are now at you can’t really account for an acquisition being the probable exit because you get too big. Very large exits involving companies worth over $1 billion (€900m) happen but they are relatively rare,” said Mr Corbett, Wayflyer’s chief executive.

“As an independent company an IPO is usually the ultimate destination, but it is not on our horizon for a long time. We’re still just 22 months on from launch, so I think there is a long way to go before we’d be ready for that.”

Wayflyer becomes latest Irish tech unicorn after $150m fundraise

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Founded in September 2019, Wayflyer provides affordable unsecured loans and marketing analytics to ecommerce companies.

Going live in April 2020 just after Covid lockdowns hit, Wayflyer advanced more than $500 million to companies globally last year, providing ecommerce stores with affordable, non-dilutive, unsecured capital of between $10,000 and $20 million.

It has more than 800 customers across 11 countries, and employs 250 people between Dublin, London, New York, Atlanta and Sydney.

Mr Corbett said it intends to use its latest $150 funding in part to double headcount to 500 people over the next six to nine months, with many of those new roles expected to be based in Ireland.

It also intends to use the financing to increase the amount of capital it provides to client companies as it expands into new territories across Europe and into Asia.

Valuation

Wayflyer has achieved a $1.6 billion valuation in just 2.5 years following its latest $150 million fundraise. This is by far the fastest that any Irish company has achieved unicorn status.

In doing so Wayflyer becomes the sixth home-grown tech company to officially receive the accolade after Intercom, Workhuman, Fenergo, LetsGetChecked and Flipdish, which became a unicorn just a few weeks ago.

Stripe, which was founded by Patrick and John Collison in 2010, was originally established in San Francisco, although it is now co-headquartered in Dublin. It is valued at $95 billion.

Speaking to The Irish Times in December 2020, John Collison said it was entirely plausible that Stripe could be established locally now, something that was deemed impossible back in the day.

Mr Corbett echoed such a view, saying that its latest fundraise “sends out the message that it is eminently possible for Irish entrepreneurs to create unicorns from Ireland”.

With a number of other Irish companies expected to hit a $1 billion-plus valuation relatively soon, such an event may no longer be quite so newsworthy in the future. Indeed so much many tech companies have become unicorns in recent years that there is now a call to focus on decacorns – start-ups valued at $10 billion or more – instead.

There were 32 decacorns globally last year, according to Crunchbase. This compares to between 670 and 750 unicorns.