Ellen Bancroft puts her experience in IPOs to good use at new firm

Another sign of approval for Indie can be seen in its legal department. In April, the company brought on Ellen Bancroft, one of OC’s betterknown legal minds, as its general counsel.

Bancroft won a Women in Business Award from the Business Journal in 2012, while serving as the head of Dorsey & Whitney LLP’s California corporate group. The next year she would join Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, and become the managing partner at that firm’s Costa Mesa office.

Bancroft’s expertise is in helping companies go public, making her an apt fit for Indie. She’s been involved in more than 50 IPOs over the years, including some of the most notable public listings in OC’s history, including those for Broadcom, the Ensign Group and Buy.com.

Her advice for other firms looking to go public? Get the company’s financials, corporate governance, and exec team in tip-top shape, so that when the timing is right and “the window opens, you’re ready to go,” she told the Business Journal in 2018.

McClymont said Indie had been considering a traditional IPO in 2022 or 2023, before the SPAC window opened. The only limiting factor to its growth in the past year “has been our balance sheet,” he told Cramer.