September 2021: In the News and Noted IPOs

In September 2021, both Toast and Remitly began trading publicly, marking a significant month for payments and fintech IPOs and reinforcing investor appetite for technology companies operating across the payments ecosystem. Toast priced its NYSE IPO at $40 per share on September 22, 2021, valuing the company at approximately $20 billion. Shares rose 56% on the first day of trading. Toast provides a comprehensive restaurant technology platform, integrating point-of-sale hardware and software, payment processing, payroll, and supplier management into a single system designed specifically for the food service industry. Remitly, a digital remittance platform, also went public in September, raising over $300 million in its IPO. Remitly enables international money transfers to over 100 countries, primarily serving immigrants sending money to family members abroad. The company has grown rapidly as digital remittance displaces traditional wire transfer services. Both listings reflect strong themes that Chatsworth Securities tracks closely: the verticalization of payments software, where horizontal payment processors give way to industry-specific integrated platforms, and the digitization of cross-border financial flows, where incumbents like Western Union face structural pressure from mobile-first challengers. For companies operating in adjacent spaces, the success of these IPOs provided important data points on public market valuations, investor appetite for payments technology, and the multiples available for high-growth SaaS-enabled payment platforms.