This Week In IPOs

It’s too soon to definitively declare 2018 the year of the unicorn IPO, but there are a number of public offerings bubbling at the moment that we need to catch up on. And, as they will all follow Zscaler’s recent, successful opening, flotations are in the air.

Today we’re executing a summary– a short download of what’s going on from the companies that are expected to go public sharpish. The minimum requirement for entry is a known private filing, provided that we trust the reporting source.

So without further ado, here’s what’s up in US-listed technology IPOs:

• iQiyi, a Baidu-backed video service has filed a new F-1 document indicating that it may raise up to $2.73 billion in its IPO on the Nasdaq. The firm is comically unprofitable, with negative gross margins in its last full year of operations. It also lost $574 million (GAAP) last year, before it added in “Accretion of redeemable convertible preferred shares.”
• Bilibili, a video site that focuses on animated content, intends to raise up to $603 million in its own IPO, per its March 16 F-1/A. (Both Bilibili and iQiyi have raised their fundraising targets.) The firm has quickly expanding revenues (nearly 5x in its last full year), and comparatively small losses ($28.2 million, before more “Accretions to preferred shares redemption value.”)
• Dropbox’s impending IPO that should see the firm’s value decline a bit, is oversubscribed. Are price increases in the offing?
• Zuora filed to go public last week, and we took a trip through the numbers here. The company is yet another unicorn IPO for 2018. However, how much it can raise will be a critical question. For now, the firm has a placeholder number only.
• Spotify and its odd-but-still-happening direct listing public debut chugs along. How much will the company be worth when it begins to trade? No one knows! Regardless of success or failure, this is going to be a fun one to watch. Spotify will begin to trade on April 3rd.
• And the latest: DocuSign, a unicorn that is finally, finally, finally going public. According to TechCrunch’s Katie Roof that is, and she’s a person that we trust.

And I think that is it. Let us know and email Alex if we missed someone.

There is still a massive logjam of unicorn illiquidity to get public, but the above is a good start. Perhaps 2018’s IPO climate will finally make up for the preceding drought.