Report: NerdWallet Looks To Go Public With Confidential Filing

Personal finance company NerdWallet has privately provided American regulators with documentation to go public, Reuters reported Friday (May 14), citing unnamed sources.

Unnamed sources in the report said that NerdWallet has engaged the services of a collection of investment banks headed up by Morgan Stanley to set up an initial public offering (IPO). The company is looking to reach the public markets prior to the year’s conclusion, according to the unnamed sources.

Two unnamed sources in the report noted that NerdWallet could seek an up to $5 billion valuation.

However, unnamed sources indicated that the valuation and the public offering’s timing are not set in stone.

NerdWallet, which was established in 2009, offers users financial information on offerings like mortgages and credit cards. The company brought Lauren St. Clair, a previous eBay leader, on board as chief financial officer late last year.

The news comes as many well-known FinTech firms have reached the public markets in the past half year.

NerdWallet has quickly grown during the last year via the purchase of firms like Know Your Money, which is headquartered in Britain, and Fundera, which is headquartered in the United States.

Last year, NerdWallet announced that it had purchased Fundera. At the time, it was noted that the purchase would help NerdWallet grow its choices for financial knowledge and financing options for those who own small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), providing it with a larger slice of the SMB market and “advancing its mission of providing clarity for all of life’s financial decisions.”

“Although we offer free tools and content, we’ve never been able to fully support small business owners — that changes today,” said NerdWallet Co-Founder and CEO Tim Chen said in an October announcement. “Fundera has been one of our partners for several years and their deep understanding of the SMB market, the long-standing, trusted relationships they’ve built with both lenders and business owners, and their commitment to putting the needs of small business owners first is really unique and impressive.”