Fintech Kaspi.kz, valued at $14b, preps U.S. listing

Kaspi.kz, Kazakhstan's fintech superapp, is preparing for a U.S. listing that may come this year, the company tells Axios.

Why it matters: The IPO pipeline for the second half of 2023 is starting to fill up, albeit with tentative deals.

Driving the news: Kaspi.kz, valued at about $14.2 billion on the London Stock Exchange, is working with banks to put together documentation and is seeking to file in the summer.

• That's assuming the so-called IPO window is open.
• "If the market is open, we would like to do it this year," a spokesperson said. "It would be logical to attempt to do it in the latter half of the year."

Context: Shares of the company are up about 135% since its October 2020 London listing — outpacing the 48.4% drop in the broader Global X Fintech ETF in the same period.

• Kaspi.kz believes its stock can reach higher valuations in the U.S. market, where there is a more diverse pool of investors and more interest in tech businesses.
• The company also believes its profitability (about $1.3 billion in net income last year) and growth (revenue grew about 40% last year) give it an edge in current conditions.

Of note: The company says it has about 12.6 million monthly active users, which is about 65% of Kazakhstan's total population.