Cryptocurrency and banking app company Tap Global Limited has listed on the UK’s Aquis Stock Exchange in the exchange’s first public listing of 2023 and the first of a crypto trading app.
The listing was via reverse takeover by investment company Quetzal Capital plc for £20.5 million. It raised £3.1 million in capital, providing a value of £30 million when it joined the exchange.
Law firm Hill Dickinson advised Quetzal on the RTO which sees the company renamed and now trading as Tap Global Group plc. The legal team was led by senior associate Amy Grosvenor and associate Isabella Spencer-Higgins of Hill Dickinson’s Corporate-Commercial team.
Tap Global, which was founded by former software developer Arsen Torosian and prepaid card business veteran Dave Carr, allows users to trade digital currencies by connecting them with a number of crypto exchanges via its app. The company offers its own Mastercard to pay for online shopping using Bitcoin.
Tap Global co-founder and CEO Dave Carr said he believes the company is well positioned to succeed as the market matures despite current market volatility.
Our decision to list now raised some eyebrows, particularly in the wake of the FTX fallout, but it is our focus on regulation and customer protection that sets us apart from less responsible operators.Dave Carr
CEO and co-founder, Tap Global
Speaking about Hill Dickinson’s part in the transaction, John Taylor, chair of Tap Global, added:
“I was hugely impressed with the performance of the entire Hill Dickinson team during this transaction. They worked with considerable agility, flexibility and professional determination in a transaction which was both protracted and highly complex given both the international dimension and the industry sector. The team remained focused on producing solutions to frequent challenges and understood the intent of the principals, which allowed them to remain laser focused on the desired outcome.”
Tap currently has over 100,000 users and now aims to expand into Australia and the USA.