Exclusive: Why this London-based AI firm has picked Aquis for its float next month
City A.M. can reveal that London-based artificial intelligence firm Pri0r1ty AI is gearing up to float on the capital’s Aquis Exchange next month.
The bootstrapped software company, pending regulatory clearance, is aiming to raise at least £600,000 in a public listing in early July to launch its product.
Pri0r1ty AI offers a platform providing support services in investor relations, public relations, and corporate governance, designed to enhance efficiency and reduce costs for small and medium-sized businesses.
It automates tasks like writing press releases, regulatory news, and social media content, typically handled by multiple external agencies, while also offering access to human expertise when needed.
The Aquis Exchange, designed to support the growth of SMEs with a specialised regulatory environment, admitted 16 new companies last year, the most of any UK growth exchange. Pri0r1ty’s initial public offering (IPO) will be among the first for Aquis in 2024.
Chief executive Dan Gee and executive chairman James Sheehan, who describe themselves as “born and bred” Londoners, have previously built businesses and have extensive backgrounds in equity capital markets.
“We quickly found that being a startup founder means that you’re everything from the toilet cleaner to the head of marketing to the head of HR and it kind of changes every day,” said Gee.
Pri0r1ty provides the “basic function” to do all of these things, he said, allowing smaller businesses to better prioritise their time and resources.
We are a company growth platform, and having that visibility is crucial
Dan Gee, Pri0r1ty CEO
“I’m super excited,” he said about the initial public offering (IPO). “It’s a big thing. I think people are missing the romance of the London Stock Exchange, UK capital markets and taking your company public.
“It’s a massive achievement as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, to have a business that has grown to that point,” Gee continued. “The reception has been amazing, from investors and from institutions, even though we’re a really tiny company. They love the tech and the demos.”
Going public is also beneficial from a commercial perspective. “It’s a shop window for our business,” he explained. “We are a company growth platform, and having that visibility is crucial.”
With the funds raised, Pri0r1ty plans to expand its team to up to 20 employees, focusing on building an AI support team, a go-to-market strategy, and a delivery team to bring its product to market. With a current waiting list of 600 businesses, it expects to onboard its first customers before the end of the year.
Although small, Pri0r1ty’s IPO is likely to be greeted positively by capital markets insiders as a sign that London’s languishing equity markets still hold promise.
As of April, the value of exits from the London Stock Exchange surpassed £60bn, as companies like cybersecurity firm Darktrace, gambling giant Flutter and travel firm Tui moving overseas. Listings on London’s AIM market have cratered 30 per cent from 1,104 in 2015 to just 742 this year.
London’s capital markets could end up “dead” if the current rate of decline continues, the boss of Peel Hunt recently warned. The shift away from the use of public equity as a route for companies to grow has been driven by a number of factors including low valuations and a lack of appetite from institutional investors.
But Pri0r1ty chairman Sheehan is optimistic about the future. “At some point, it will start to become a better place to operate,” he said, “and I do think that the tide will change, and we’ll start to see capital inflows. I’d like to be part of that turnaround story.”
He added: “There are so many undervalued businesses in London and we feel that we’re coming with quite a low valuation, with a low fundraising, and hopefully we can deliver some upside to investors.”
Founded in late 2023, the AI group kicked off its IPO process in October last year, following a friends and family funding round.