Xero IPO Successful

The NZX has just announced the successful IPO of Xero with $15 million raised from the New Zealand public, and trading will commence as planned on Tuesday June 5.

After a year since starting Xero, this is a major Milestone for the business, Rod, Hamish, the whole team and the 1600+ members of the New Zealand Public who are now on board as shareholders.

A Man with a Plan

I was fortunate enough to have a quick call to congratulate Rod during his lunch today. As many know him, he’s a man with a plan so while very pleased is never remotely surprised by such events. In the first conversation I had with Rod a year ago he was very clear that he was going to own half a of a public company of his own creation, and that he’d do this in about 12 months. Also just had a quick chat to co-founder Hamish who’s just finished a very good week connecting Xero with customers on the ground at the Small Business Expo in Auckland, with 13% of Xero and only beginning this stage of the journey, he sounds like a very happy man.

Xero and Building New Zealand

Theres been varied discussion about the valuation Xero has achieved in such a short period of time, but I like many are comfortable with the valuation and view Xero as a safe investment for a few reasons. The way I think many see it, is that Xero could have secured money from plenty of offshore sources, but has openly made it part of their mission to build a New Zealand owned global business. This is as much an opportunity for New Zealand as it is for Rod, Hamish and other initial investors who have made a significant gain from the IPO. The only way to retain New Zealand ownership of what is going to be a significant global business is to secure a reasonable amount of capital to execute the global plan, and New Zealands NZX has proven to be a successful vehicle to connect like minded New Zealanders with Xero.

The Xero journey has only just begun, and its great that so many New Zealanders are already part of it.