Stitch Fix Up 16% In Downsized Unicorn IPO

Morning Report: An anticipated IPO took off this morning. Let’s check in on how it’s done so far.

This morning, Stitch Fix started to trade as a public company. The firm opened at $16.90, ahead of its IPO price. As of the time of writing, the firm is worth $17.42 per share, up 16 percent from its initial value.

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Stitch Fix sold 8 million shares at $15 per share in its IPO. The firm had initially set a range up to $20 per share for its equity, with an initial run of 10 million shares to be sold. The firm’s downgrade to both its per-share value and the number of shares for sale hint at underwhelming demand for its shares.

Despite the firm’s rapid historical growth and history of operating profits, the firm’s rapidly expanding sales costs (presented in its “Selling, general and administrative expenses” line item) and descent into GAAP net losses were potential sticking points.

But the firm downsized its debut and got out the door with its shares now trading up a nice percentage.

And according to TechCrunch’s Katie Roof, Stitch Fix was tipped to be worth $1.2 billion at its IPO price. Using some rough math, up 16 percent or so, Stitch Fix is now worth over $1.33 billion. We’ll wait until the normal data sources confirm that figure, but, as a rough metric, it will suffice for now.

On the VC side of things, winners in the IPO are as follows (check the “5% Stockholders” section):

Calculating from the initial $1.2 billion TechCrunch number, that works out to $337.2 million for Baseline, $307.2 million for Benchmark, and $141.6 million for Lightspeed. If those firms didn’t sell in the the IPO traunch, move each number up by about 17 percent. You will then have a decent estimate of what those firms’ newest, liquid asset is worth.

With both the Sendgrid and Stitch Fix IPOs this week, it’s been a shockingly good week for unicorn (Stitch Fix) and nigh-unicorn (Sendgrid) debuts.

(If you want even more on Stitch Fix, Ben Thompson has some good notes on the topic, including a decent subtweet of something I wrote in 2014.)

From the Crunchbase Daily:

Stitch Fix launches IPO

• StitchFix, an online fashion platform that employs personal stylists to select clothes for customers, raised $120 million in an IPO on Nasdaq, after pricing shares below the projected range. Shares were up about 17 percent in early trading.

Satellite space achieves liftoff

• Investor interest in the satellite space industry has been accelerating over the past few years, with big rounds for Kymeta, OneWeb, and other growth companies. A Crunchbase News analysis finds that over 40 percent of known deals in the space happened in 2016 or 2017.

Williams-Sonoma buys AR startup

• Cookware and furniture retailer Williams-Sonoma will acquire Outward, a 3-D imaging and augmented reality startup with a focus home décor, for $112 million in cash. San Jose, Calif.-based Outward previously raised about $12 million in venture funding.

Startup Battlefield is coming to Australia

• TechCrunch’s first Startup Battlefield Australia kicks off in one month. The Sydney event, which takes place November 16 at ATP’s Locomotive Workshop, includes a tremendous day of programming and an epic competition to find the best early-stage startups across Australia and New Zealand.