Wayving, not floating

PISCES, the framework enabling share trading in private companies, was widely promoted as a game changer for UK growth companies when it gained regulatory approval last summer. In her July 2025 Mansion House speech, Chancellor Rachel Reeves hailed it as a “world-first UK financial services innovation”.

The framework allows founders, employees and early investors in private companies the ability to sell shares without the cost and rigmarole of going through an IPO, not to mention the ongoing costs of maintaining a public listing. The expectation is that, though not a platform for raising capital, this could stimulate growth in private companies as it would make them more attractive to both talent and early-stage investors, knowing there is an exit mechanism for their shareholdings. 

However, PISCES has initially appeared slow to gain traction. The London Stock Exchange didn’t launch its Private Securities Market (PSM) platform, built on the PISCES framework, until 5 February of this year and the first transaction didn’t take place until 25 March; the guinea pig being Oxford Science Enterprises, which commercialises Oxford University research. 

However, this week might represent a turning point. Wayve, one of the most interesting and well-funded London headquartered startups that creates virtual drivers of autonomous vehicles through AI learning, has announced a major tender offer over the PSM platform. Auctions will be held periodically from 8 July, in which $85m worth of employee and early investor’s shares will be offered to sophisticated investors. The offer values Wayve at $8.6bn.

Ultimately, Wayve represents a significant test for PISCES and PSM. If investor appetite isn’t there then the initial hopes may well prove misguided. If the tender offer proves a success, however, one might expect to see many more private companies taking advantage of the platform. 

A further test then will be what this means for London’s public markets. If some of the key advantages of being listed can be accessed at much lower cost while remaining private, will this further suppress IPO activity in the UK? Or will the platform, having provided a taster of what public markets can provide, act as a stepping-stone to IPO, where companies can quickly raise new capital and issue shares to acquire businesses. Let’s hope it’s the latter.