The Investor revolution
Following their inaugural sponsorship of The Investor Summit 2026, the flagship investor event in the UK, City AM sat down with James Deal, Co CEO of RetailBook
THE THINKING BEHIND THE INVESTOR SUMMIT?
It’s a common sense idea, if you want the public to participate in our public markets, you have to give everyday investors better access to the stories of the companies in them and explain the role of capital markets themselves. Why they exist, how they work, and why they matter to UK growth and to the UK economy. Our job goes way beyond the transaction itself.
Then, building on that, the ambition is for a transaction to be the start of something rather than the end of it. Everyone who comes forward to invest with RetailBook should stay in the system and keep building into pensions, into longer-term investing, into a healthy investment culture in the UK.
WHY WOULD AN EVERYDAY INVESTOR CARE ABOUT EQUITY AND DEBT CAPITAL MARKETS?
Because it usually starts with a sector or a business you’re interested in, a new industry innovator, a brand you use every week and when that company comes to market, that’s the moment you can own a piece of it. And that’s how we start to back ourselves here in the UK.
Forward-thinking CEOs and leadership teams want to bring their clients, their customers and new shareholders with them when they fundraise. So it really is a two-way ambition. The technology and expertise we’ve developed at RetailBook is what makes that possible at scale and it’s now becoming industry standard.
WHY SHOULD AN ISSUER, ADVISER, BANK OR LAWYER THINK ITS NECESSARY TO INCLUDE EVERYDAY INVESTORS IN THEIR FUNDRAISE, WHEN THEY HAVE OTHER FASTER POOLS OF CAPITAL TO BRING TOGETHER AT SPEED RIGHT?
The idea that the public can’t mobilise at the same speed as institutional investors is really outdated. At RetailBook, our technology-led processes and data, proves it. Where required, we run transactions in a two-hour window at 7am or in the evening for a FTSE placing as well as longer dated IPOs, or all three at the same time. Founders are taking on new ways to engage their investor base, and we sit side by side with the ecosystem making that happen with all the guardrails, governance and compliance you would expect from a regulated entity.
One in three UK equity raises now carries a retail tranche, up from roughly one in ten in 2020, so our messaging is getting through.
BUT THE CAPITAL IS LOW VALUE ISN’T IT?
Again, not true. As a fintech we are built for scale, and that’s what we’re doing. We recently hit our biggest milestone, £2bn of investor capital unlocked into UK equity and debt capital markets since January 2025 alone. Since January 2020 this is closer to £4bn and every penny of it has served either the UK Government, through our Treasury Bill programme, or FTSE 350 and fast-growing AIM companies with their ambitions to reach the UK public.
YOU CALL YOURSELF THE INDUSTRY UTILITY, THE MARKET DIDN’T KNOW IT NEEDED – WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?
We sit at the centre of an important ecosystem. That’s what a utility is. And we’re there delivering on the ambition of the Government, the FCA and the London Stock Exchange when they developed the new POATR rules launched earlier this year. To give the public the chance to engage with our public markets, supporting jobs, regional wealth and innovation.
Our role is unique because we are solely focused on that ambition. The RetailBook team have unrivalled experience and expertise, and it’s why we are trusted by the industry and investors alike. Every FTSE 350 company that has chosen to open its fundraise to everyday investors since January 2025 has chosen RetailBook. That shows it’s working.
£2bn of investor capital unlocked into UK equity and debt capital markets since January 2025 – James Deal, Co CEO of RetailBook
IN THE UK, OR INDEED NEW UK LISTINGS AND YET YOU SEEM OPTIMISTIC?
I’d push back on the framing rather than the fact. IPOs have been quiet, that’s true. But IPOs are one scoreboard, not the whole picture. Look at what’s happening now with placings, follow-on raises and our UK Treasury Bill programme.
And here is the part I find genuinely encouraging. Issuers are getting more comfortable increasing the equity they allocate to everyday investors. In the first half of this year, against the same period last year, the market average retail allocation grew 3.3 times – Ours grew seven times. The spirit of the POATR changes is working, and we are leading from the front. On what’s ahead, what I can say is that the pipeline building through the fourth quarter, both here and overseas – is strong.
YOU MENTIONED OVERSEAS, TELL ME MORE ABOUT THAT. ARE YOU SEEING OVERSEAS COMPANIES COMING TOWARDS THE UK DOMESTIC CAPITAL POOL TOO NOW?
Yes, and it’s a UK strength story as much as an overseas one. RetailBook’s regulated status as a POP, the Public Offer Platform, gives UK investors access to overseas listings and vice versa, for overseas listings to include discerning UK investors. Companies are coming here because of what RetailBook can offer them, and one of the things we offer is a domestic investor base they can actually reach.
We are waking up a new cohort of investors and an investment culture, which is mutually beneficial, for our markets, for investors and for the ambitious founders we work with.