Monday 14th October

Everyone likes a good news story, and it seems that the current story unfolding at OB10 is a ringing endorsement of both their product and the state of global e-invoicing.  Business success can usually be put down to a few things - sometimes it’s luck, sometimes it’s timing, sometimes it’s a fundamentally unique and strong product, sometimes it’s the drive of specific people – very occasionally it’s all of those things.  And when it is, there’s often a sense of inevitability or a sense that business has been queuing up waiting for the product to appear - and so it seems with the creation of Tungsten Corp, created by City legend Edmund Truell, solely to purchase OB10.

In the biggest corporate deal on AIM since 2008, Luke McKeever, CEO of OB10 says that there’s a real appetite for good companies that are stronger because of the foundations they’ve laid down during the recession. The market wants to invest in strong UK businesses with a global footprint. And it seems he’s right – as of last Wednesday shares in the company were oversubscribed as investors put their faith in Truell and in the strength and growth potential of the product.

The final touches of one element of the deal has yet to come together – gaining a UK banking license - which the company plans to gain via the purchase of the UK branch of the First International Bank of Israel. The bank will be funded by the cash injection created by the initial floatation, making it only the 3rd new bank to be created in the last 30 years. And if the existing banks have been slow (and to be fair, not best placed) to pick up on the opportunities the e-invoicing network has created  – the newTungsten/OB10 bank prides itself on being uniquely placed to grease the wheels of working capital by not diluting its services. Instead it plans to do one thing very well – fast, compliant invoicing with the ability to leverage cost effective dynamic discounting or invoice financing.  An industry which is said to be worth around £60bn in the UK, of which, with £100bn flowing through its network annually, OB10 hope to be able to gain a sizeable chunk.

So why now? Well, it seems that a perfect storm of the right macro-economic conditions, combined with increased legislation meaning that e-invoicing globally has become more a case of when rather than if, has attracted the noses of the investor community. It seems they, and government policy makers have finally understood what the industry knew a long time ago and had planned their products around – and have now provided the impetus (and of course, the money) to drive it mainstream.

All this, as Luke McKeever says, has been “a long time in incubation”, having been first approached by Edmund Truell just five days into his position of CEO. Two and a half years later, it seems those plans are about to come to fruition as the markets open and start trading from tomorrow.  In speaking to Luke, the sense of excitement, measured anticipation and confidence in the offering are palpable. As he says “We’re absolutely committed to payments transformation and firmly believe that by moving away from the limited traditional processes towards a flexible, transparent and affordable offering ensures business can compete on a global scale – without being held up by limited working capital”

With all the buzz and excitement in the industry, I only wish I’d bought some shares myself.