LoopUp raises £8.5m in ‘first’ post-Brexit tech IPO

Conference call start-up LoopUp floated on the London Stock Exchange this morning, bringing its valuation to 40.8 million.

The London-based firm claims to be the UK's first tech firm to go public since the country voted to leave the EU, and it raised 8.5 million by selling shares at 100p each on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market its shares rose to 110p later this morning.

Co-CEO Steve Flavell said in a statement: "The completion of the IPO process marks an important and exciting milestone on LoopUp's journey as a UK-headquartered and internationally-minded technology company, and provides a significant catalyst for our continued growth.

"The reception from investors has been positive and encouraging, and reinforces our belief that our differentiated product, business model and plans for the future provide the foundation needed to deliver on our potential as a public company.

"Our focus will continue to be on delivering an exceptional product and service to our customers around the world, supported by the funds we've raised and emboldened by the faith our new shareholders have placed in us. These are exciting times."

LoopUp hopes to differentiate itself in the conference call space by reducing noise interference, dialling out participants, rather than them having to remember the relevant codes themselves, while showing who is on the call and who is speaking.

Michael Hughes, co-CEO, told CNBC this morning: "When you think about most people's everyday conference calling experience, it is pretty poor, and I think investors have been very surprised to discover that over 14 billion of wasted time occurs in the US and the UK alone. What LoopUp's all about is trying to use the tools that you have with you everyday to solve these problems."