New York, May 14, 2026, 12:21 EDT
- SoFi picked up technology from PrimaryBid aimed at boosting retail involvement in share offerings.
- SoFi is moving further from its consumer lending roots, clinching the deal just as U.S. IPO activity is picking up again.
- Rate markets are still signaling no move from the Fed in June, leaving lenders under that same pressure.
SoFi Technologies just picked up tech from UK-based PrimaryBid, pushing further into the business of connecting retail investors with IPOs and capital raises. According to PrimaryBid’s site, Nasdaq-listed SoFi is the buyer. PYMNTS reported a SoFi spokesperson confirmed the deal included assets tied to PrimaryBid’s directed share program.
The deal’s timing is crucial as SoFi looks to diversify its revenue with more fee-based streams tied to its core lending and banking app. Fresh momentum in the U.S. listings market adds to the backdrop. With a directed share program, companies can carve out a slice of a stock offering for employees, customers, or retail investors—instead of handing nearly all the allocation to big institutional players.
This week, Reuters said Cerebras locked in the year’s biggest IPO, pulling in $5.55 billion. Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust also made headlines, securing $1.75 billion through its U.S. market debut. For SoFi, fresh deals like these open up more opportunities—think selling access, custody, and investment tools across its platform.
Financial terms weren’t made public. With the deal, PrimaryBid wraps up its stint as an independent firm and now looks to hand capital back to investors, according to statements from both PrimaryBid and SoFi cited by Financial News.
PrimaryBid founder and CEO Anand Sambasivan called it “delighted” to see SoFi bringing retail-capital tech to what he described as a resurgent U.S. IPO market. He added that the retail channel was now “hugely consequential.” FN London
The deal extends a partnership first unveiled in 2024, linking SoFi and PrimaryBid on a U.S. directed-share platform. Back then, SoFi CEO Anthony Noto pointed to traditional directed share programs as saddled with steep account minimums, burdensome costs for companies, and not much interest from underwriters. Sambasivan also flagged a gap—companies wanted targeted investor inclusion at the IPO stage but didn’t have the tools to make it happen at scale.
Competition is fierce. According to Reuters, both SoFi and Robinhood are making moves into early retail IPO access—a space Wall Street banks and big funds have traditionally controlled.
At 12:06 p.m. in New York, SoFi traded at $15.76, up 45 cents for the session and valuing the company around $21.7 billion. Robinhood and Affirm ticked higher too, suggesting strength across fintech, not just from deal chatter.
SoFi just wrapped up a first quarter that saw GAAP net revenue climb to a record $1.1 billion, marking a 43% jump from the same period last year. Net income landed at $166.7 million. Loan originations hit $12.2 billion—personal, student, and home loans all logged sizable gains over the year.
Even so, that didn’t quite cut it for investors. On April 29, Reuters said SoFi shares slipped after the company left its 2026 revenue targets untouched—despite record highs in both loan and member growth. Guidance remained steady: SoFi continues to project adjusted revenue of roughly $4.66 billion for the year, with adjusted EPS sticking close to 60 cents.
Insider activity came back into focus this week. According to a Form 4 filing, Noto picked up 15,545 shares on May 11, paying a weighted average of $16.0039. That move pushed his direct stake up to 11,946,619 shares.
Rates are still a worry. Prediction markets aren’t budging much: Oddpool’s tracker had Kalshi odds of a June Fed hold at 97.0%, Polymarket at 97.6%. For 2026, Polymarket puts the odds of zero cuts this year at 72%.
That’s key for SoFi: higher rates help boost earnings from loans and deposits, but there’s a flip side—borrowers may pull back, credit quality can take a hit, and interest in IPOs might slump. The company flagged those risks in its latest quarterly disclosures, citing shifting markets, inflation, rate swings, and broad volatility as factors that could impact performance.
