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WeTransfer sales hit €65m ahead of potential listing

LaToya Harding
·Business Reporter, Yahoo Finance UK
·2-min read
ANKARA, TURKEY - JULY 17 : WeTransfer application seen displayed on a mobile in Ankara, Turkey on July 17, 2018. (Photo by Murat Kaynak/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
The Amsterdam-based firm, which has been profitable since 2013, has benefited from the shift to remote working during the health crisis. Photo: Murat Kaynak/Anadolu Agency/Getty (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

WeTransfer has revealed that its sales rose by more than a quarter during the coronavirus pandemic as it gears up for a potential stock market float.

Revenue at the file-sharing platform rose 26% to €65m (£55m, $75m) last year, while increasing by 64% to €45m in the first half of 2021, it said on Monday.

The Amsterdam-based firm, which has been profitable since 2013, has benefited from the shift to remote working during the health crisis.

It is now rolling out a new Portals feature to help freelancers manage their workflow with clients, and is looking at expanding its offering with new features, including a mobile app that allows sending and receiving files. More than 1.5 billion files a month are shared through its service.

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WeTransfer is reportedly considering a listing on the Amsterdam stock exchange (^AEX) that could value it at €1bn.

It hired Bank of America-Merrill Lynch (MER-PK) and Morgan Stanley (MS) as global coordinators for the initial public offering, with ABN Amro (ABN.AS) and Barclays (BARC.L) appointed as bookrunners for the deal.

Read more: IPO watch: ByteDance backed Manner Coffee mulls Hong Kong listing

According to its website, WeTransfer counts venture capital firm Highland Europe as its biggest investor with a 57.6% stake. HPE Growth, which led a €35m investment round in 2019, controls 13.5% of the company.

The number of stock market listings across the globe this year has surpassed all initial public offering (IPO) activity throughout 2020, new data has shown. Additionally, the number of European listings hit their highest level in 14 years in the first half of the year.

According to EY, global volumes have risen 87%, and proceeds have increased by 99% year-on year.

The data showed that the most recent quarter of 2021 was the most active third quarter by deal number and proceeds in the last 20 years.

Q3 saw 18% more deals than the previous third quarter record, which was set in 2007, and 11% higher proceeds than the last record-setting Q3 in 2020.

On a regional level, Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA) outperformed the Americas and Asia-Pacific (APAC), with a surge of 476 IPOs year-to-date.

Read more: IPO watch: From DarkTrace to Deliveroo, the winners and losers of London listings

Technology firms, healthcare and industrials continued to lead the charge, with added interest in special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs).

SPACs, or so-called “black cheque” companies, have boomed in popularity over the last year. They are companies with no business operations that raise money through a stock market listing and then use that money to buy another business.

Watch: What are SPACs?