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Public.com, an investing app backed by Will Smith and Maria Sharapova, is in talks to acquire Dutch trading startup Bux

Public.com co-CEO Jannick Malling and Yorick Naeff, CEO of Bux
Public.com co-CEO Jannick Malling and Yorick Naeff, CEO of Bux. Public.com, Bux

  • Investing app Public.com is in talks to acquire Dutch trading startup Bux, sources say.
  • Bux was valued at an estimated $320 million to $480 million in 2021, but the expected deal price is lower.
  • A sale would mark an ongoing trend of US fintechs snapping up cheaper European peers.
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Investing app Public.com is in talks to acquire Dutch stock trading startup Bux, according to two sources with knowledge of the discussions.

New York-based Public has been in active talks with Bux for two months, the sources said. Bux initiated the discussions and an exact deal structure is not yet clear, a London-based source said. The deal is not finalized, and discussions may fall apart.

Public, founded in 2019, counts an array of celebrity investors among its backers such as Maria Sharapova, Will Smith, and Tony Hawk. It was valued at around $1.2 billion in 2021, Insider previously reported.

The company has offices in both New York and Copenhagen, but only offers services like fractional share trading, NFTs, crypto, and alternative assets to users in the US. 

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Amsterdam-based Bux was founded in 2013 and offers users in a variety of European countries access to US and European shares, cryptocurrencies, and CFD trading — the latter being illegal in the US.

Bux has never stated its valuation but was valued between $320 million and $480 million at its 2021 funding round, according to Dealroom estimates. Should a sale go ahead, the price is expected to be substantially lower. Public could gain access to new markets in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Italy through Bux's licenses.

Both Public and Bux declined to comment.

The discussions come as times get tougher for fintech startups on the funding front. While venture capitalists have piled enthusiastically into the sector, global funding to fintechs dropped 39% from its peak in 2021 to $22.2 billion in the second quarter of 2022, according to Dealroom. Bux, though it raised an $80 million from investors in 2021, this year turned to crowdfunding with a campaign on Seedrs.

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Another brokerage startup, Freetrade, struggled to raise an external funding round and instead opted for a convertible loan note and its eighth crowdfunding round. Germany's Trade Republic agreed to onerous terms to sign a Series C extension in June 2022 amid the funding downturn.

A move for Bux by Public would also continue a trend of US fintechs gobbling up their European peers. Earlier in 2022, $7.4 billion San Francisco-based fintech Carta acquired UK startups Vauban and Capdesk while Robinhood agreed a deal to buy London-based crypto player Ziglu after canning its own UK expansion.

Bux is backed by Chinese tech investor Tencent and German firm HV Capital. Public.com's institutional backers include Tiger Global, Accel, and Greycroft. The firm is notable for dropping the practice of receiving payment for order flow (PFOF), a controversial practice employed by rival trading app Robinhood which is illegal in the UK and was recently under regulatory scrutiny by the SEC.

Fintech
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