Are IPO’s possible? BIVA says yes!

Contxto – BIVA, the newest stock exchange in Mexico is aiming at improving the country’s capital markets, and creating a more efficient financial industry through top-notch technology.

Last Monday, Maria Ariza, the exchange’s CEO spoke about BIVA’s mission at an event hosted by Mutuo, Guadalajara’s newest co-working space.

The Bolsa Institucional de Valores, aka BIVA, was founded last year and started operations as of 2018, raising the hope and ambition of hundreds of entrepreneurs after even the slightest possibility of exiting through an IPO.

Most Venture Capital funds in Mexico don’t even consider the public markets as a feasible exit alternative. Strategic acquisitions and further fundraising rounds are the only options, nowadays. Sad but true!

“It is unbelievable how disconnected the public and private markets are from each other!” said Maria Ariza during her speech. “There are more companies inside a single Private Equity portfolio than there are in total in the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores”, she added.

“The current market capitalization in the stock exchange is not representative of our economy”. – Maria Ariza

Meaning that the average market share of the listed companies is well above 98.9% of Mexico’s companies, which are SME’s.

Companies aren’t the only ones not paying much attention to the public markets, but the investors, too. “There are 200k capital market accounts in Mexico; a country of 120 million people!” she continued, “not only that, but there were 700k new accounts created in Bitso, the crypto trading platform, only last year”.

Through its Nasdaq technology, BIVA allows businesses to not only issue stock, but also debt, something not a lot of people actually know. “Banks and financial institutions aren’t the only ways to issue debt, you can get even better rates in the markets” said the CEO.

BIVA is not only a place for big companies, is also a place for growing companies. They’re currently making efforts to continuously talk to entrepreneurs, businessmen and investors about the importance of a healthier, more efficient public market.

Founders, you can now aim to IPO!

– VC.