It’s Game On For Roblox As Popular Platform Preps For IPO

If public market activity in the past few weeks has shown us anything, it’s that COVID hasn’t been a total economic buzzkill for all startups eyeing IPOs this year.

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One in particular has benefited from the hordes of kids stuck at home in order to stay safe. Namely, Roblox Corp.–an online platform and creation system that lets users program their own games and play those created by others.

San Mateo, California-based Roblox announced Monday that it has submitted confidential paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission pertaining to a potential initial public offering.

The number of shares of Class A common stock to be sold and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined, according to the company. Roblox says it will commence the public offering following the SEC review process, subject to market and other conditions.

A few details

In July, Roblox announced it had more than 150 million monthly active users on its platform. In gaming numbers, that’s no joke. For comparison–the wildly popular Minecraft game has 126 million players each month, as of May, according to parent company Microsoft.

Also, in July Roblox touted the earning potential of its division for the developer community. At the time, it said the company was tracking to earn $250 million in 2020, up from $110 million in 2019.

With games on Roblox that include everything from virtual pet shop “Adopt Me!” to “Works at a Pizza Place” where users make virtual pizzas–what’s not to love.

We will see if the public markets agree.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias.