Qplay’s JP Jenkins debut marks lacklustre launch for Pisces
Roll the dice. Make your move. Prove you’re the smartest. But hurry – the clock’s ticking.
That is the opening of a video ad for Outsmarted, a board game owned by Qplay, which is set to be the first company to list on London’s new Pisces private market.
It might have also described the fierce battle between JP Jenkins and London Stock Exchange owner LSEG to court companies to join their rival Pisces venues.
After a sustained charm offensive targeting Britain’s fastest-growing firms, LSEG was set to pip JPJ to the post and sign up the first Pisces constituent in the form of investment firm Tradable Private Equity (TPE), via an abstruse structure that holds shares in Oxford Science Enterprises.
The first TPE trades were due to take place on 25 March. But then – plot twist! JPJ made its move and outsmarted the LSE with Qplay, which will list on its platform a week earlier.
Try as I might to make this contest exciting, the reality is anything but. The new government-backed Pisces market framework was intended to be a transformative development for the City, a means to democratise investor access to private companies and offer a stepping stone towards a full public listing.
Not with a bang but a whimper?
Things have yet to impress. The government had expected Pisces listings to begin in 2025. Apparently, no one heard the starting gun. LSEG actively approached big-name, billion-pound firms like Revolut and Octopus – and got back polite smiles and raised eyebrows.
JPJ’s barnstorming debut offer is a board game maker with fewer than 10 employees and profit of about half a million. Hold the front page.
Granted, there is an element of first-mover disadvantage here. No one wants to be the first guest at the party, and some would-be Pisces members are biding their time.
But without a big-ticket entrant to get things going, this could be the way Pisces will end – not with a bang but a whimper.
Roll the dice. Make your move. Hurry – the clock’s ticking.