Temasek-backed Flywire valued at $3.4 billion in U.S. market debut

Temasek Holdings-backed payments firm Flywire Corp was valued at $3.39 billion in its Nasdaq debut on Wednesday, 239% higher from its valuation after a funding round in February last year, according to data from Pitchbook.

The company’s shares opened at $34 each, up from the initial public offering price of $24 apiece.

Flywire, founded in 2011, focuses on enabling payments in the education, healthcare and travel sectors. It is also backed by the venture arm of private-equity firm Bain Capital.

The company adds to the buzz around fintech players, particularly high-growth companies such as Affirm Holdings Inc and digital payments giant Stripe, both of which raised funds at sky-high valuations earlier this year.

Billing and payments network Paymentus Holdings Inc was valued at $3.34 billion in its debut on Wednesday. The company has seen a jump in demand, buoyed by increased adoption of online payments.

The IPO boom this year has helped raise more than $150 billion in less than five months, and is set to comfortably overtake last year’s record $167 billion, according to data from Dealogic.

Flywire, which has 2,250 clients around the world, processed $7.5 billion in payments last year, up 30.5% from a year earlier.

The company on Tuesday priced its upsized offering of 10.4 million shares with voting rights at $24 apiece, the upper end of the range announced earlier.

The Boston-based company had confidentially filed for a listing in March, a few months after Reuters reported it was planning an IPO.

The company’s revenue from clients in the education sector, which rely on international enrolments, declined significantly last year due to the pandemic, but Flywire saw “significant” strength in revenue from its healthcare clients, it said earlier this month.

Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Citigroup and BofA Securities were the lead underwriters for the IPO.

Source: The Middle Market

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