The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is opening its doors to crowdfunding investors to trade securities of companies that organise auctions on its Private Securities Market (PSM).

The PSM, which is the exchange’s platform for trading shares in private companies, enables the purchase and sale of shares in private companies through intermittent auctions, rather than through continuous public trading.

Through a partnership with UK equity investment platform Crowdcube, hundreds of thousands of eligible investors will now be able to access these opportunities alongside large institutional investors.

The move comes as the two organisations seek to create a more inclusive and liquid private capital market ecosystem.The PSM operates under the UK's PISCES (Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System) regulatory framework, approved by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The partnership said that companies in the UK and the European Union, including those currently served by Crowdcube, will benefit from this new secondary liquidity solution because it will support their growth by allowing them to remain private for longer.

This partnership opens up a new avenue for investors among Crowdcube's members, who will be able to invest in late-stage, high-growth private companies on the same terms as large institutional investors.

The LSE was confirmed in August as the first operator approved by the FCA to run a PISCES market.

The approval means that its PSM platform can allow private companies to use the exchange’s public markets infrastructure to access liquidity while remaining private.

Julia Hoggett, chief executive at the LSE, said that the partnership represents a “unique opportunity” to enable private companies and investors to use the same infrastructure and technology that underpins the LSE's public markets, while leveraging Crowdcube's expertise as a UK platform for private market investment.

“We are delighted to be working together with Crowdcube as we advance our shared vision for a connected and inclusive funding continuum,” she said.

Matt Cooper, chief executive of Crowdcube, pointed out that as many of Europe's leading late-stage companies remain private for longer – either by choice or necessity – they need the right infrastructure to continue investing and innovating in the UK.

“The Private Securities Market is a genuinely innovative initiative that bridges public and private markets more holistically than anything we’ve seen in Europe or the US,” he added. .

---