From Prison to AI Billionaire: Firmus Hits $44B Valuation
Firmus Technologies, co-founded by convicted insider trader Oliver Curtis, lists on the Australian Securities Exchange at a $44 billion valuation, marking the second-largest IPO in Australian history.
Newsnibs Staff
- 2026-10-02
- Updated 5:10 AM UTC
(Sydney, Australia)
Firmus Technologies will list on the Australian Securities Exchange on October 23 at a valuation of US$30 billion (A$43.7 billion). The West Australian reports it as the second-largest IPO in Australian history and the fourth-biggest anywhere in the world this year.
Shares are priced at A$11. The IPO auction raised US$5 billion in equity, and a green-shoe agreement, if exercised, would allow a further US$500 million. Firmus has secured major deals with Nvidia for graphics processing units and has signed service agreements with OpenAI and Meta.
The company was co-founded in 2019 by Oliver Curtis, who is a convicted insider trader and served a two-year prison sentence. He stands to gain about A$5.7 billion on paper from the listing. Other early investors include billionaire James Packer and former Rabbitohs player Wes Maas.
The valuation has divided opinion. Ray David, a senior equities analyst at Airlie Funds Management, credits Firmus with a strong short-term track record. He also says the price may be "full", pointing to the company's debt, which he puts at up to US$30 billion, and to the limited useful economic life of its GPUs, which he puts at about seven years.
David gives a further figure: free cash flow for equity holders before asset depreciation of two to two-and-a-half years. He adds that debt holders would rank ahead of shareholders. No one named in the available reporting argues that the valuation is justified.
Photo by Taylor Vick on Unsplash
