As the Business Week reported, the Munich HR startup As a first step, Personio will transform itself from a GmbH (limited liability company) to a Societas Europaea (SE). This step is intended to lay the groundwork for a stock market listing.
“With the legal form of a European public limited company, we are ready for the capital market,”
says CEO and co-founder Hanno Renner to Wirtschaftswoche.
“Our clear goal is an IPO, with the end of 2024 being the earliest possible date.”
Personio: IPO planned in Germany
Renner says he prefers the German stock market as the listing location. However, he expects the disadvantages of Germany as a stock market location to be eliminated by the time the IPO is complete. As an example, he cites the "one share, one vote" principle, which can be deviated from in the US. He says:
“There must be the possibility of different voting classes in order to prevent a possible hostile takeover.”
Personio was founded in 2015 by Hanno Renner, Roman Schumacher, Arseniy Vershinin, and Ignaz Forstmeier. The Munich-based startup offers HR software for small and medium-sized businesses. Since January 2021, the company has broken the sound barrier of a $1 billion valuation and is now a unicorn startup. In addition to Munich, Personio also has offices in Berlin, London, Madrid, Dublin, Berlin, Barcelona, and Amsterdam.
