Solarisbank aims to be "IPO-ready" by mid-2022

Solarisbank is set to go public in the third quarter of 2022. Whether via Spac or the traditional route has not yet been finalized.

In July, Solarisbank became a unicorn thanks to a €190 million financing round and had already been looking into a possible IPO. Now the CEO Roland Folz has given the Handelsblattthat the fintech wants to go public in the third quarter of 2022: "We want to be IPO-ready by the middle of the year," says Folz.

Solarisbank is currently valued at 1.4 billion euros; an IPO of a fintech of this size would be the first in Germany for a long time. Founded in 2016, Solarisbank has a full banking license from Bafin and thus serves many other start-ups that run their business via the fintech. It employs over 650 people, a number that has risen mainly due to the acquisition of Contis. Before going public, the fintech would still have to fulfill a number of conditions, for example the accounting standard would have to be changed to IFRS. The banking licences from Germany, England and Lithuania would also have to be harmonized to create a uniform platform.

In the meantime, there have been rumors that Solarisbank is considering going public via Spac, but the path now chosen is a classic IPO. However, nothing has been decided yet: "In principle, the question has not been decided, but the classic route via an IPO is an option," says Folz in Handelsblatt. "Then we have the listing in our own hands and are not dependent on third parties as with a Spac." In terms of location, Germany is likely to lose out to other countries, with an IPO more likely to take place in Amsterdam or London.