Checking In On Dropbox, Spotify, Zuora, And DocuSign

Morning Report: We spend a lot of time looking at late-stage tech companies as they work towards getting public. And even more time when they finally begin to trade. But this morning let’s check in on what’s happening with a number of big names that went public this year.

2018 is hot for IPOs, doubly so in contrast to the last few lackluster years. Yes, 2015, and 2016, and 2017 were disappointments of varying degree for venture capitalists and employees alike who were hoping that long-held shares might shake loose from the private market.

But the fourth time’s the charm, I suppose and 2018 may make up for some lost time. To that point, a few companies have managed to go public this year that stood out from the normal springtime enterprise IPO cycle.

Indeed, we’ve seen some famous unicorns finally go public in 2018, and it’s been annoyingly satisfying to write some conclusory notes concerning companies that spent more time in the shadows than perhaps anyone might have anticipated.

But how are they doing now, with a little bit of time on public markets? Let’s quickly take a peek at a few unicorn IPOs that we have seen this year and how they are holding up:

• Dropbox
  • IPO price: $21
  • Price today: $30.10
  • Percent change: +43.33 percent
• Spotify
  • IPO price: N/A; reference price set at $132.
  • Price today: $161.03
  • Percent change: +21.99 percent
• Zuora
  • IPO price: $14
  • Price today: $19.62
  • Percent change: +40.14 percent
• DocuSign
  • IPO price: $29
  • Price today: $38.69
  • Percent change: +33.41 percent
• Pivotal Software
  • IPO price: $15
  • Price today: $18.42
  • Percent change: +22.8 percent
• iQiyi
  • IPO price: $18
  • Price today: $18.35
  • Percent change: +1.94 percent
• Bilibili
  • IPO price: $11.50
  • Price today: $10.40
  • Percent change: -9.6 percent

All but one of the companies I felt were big enough to warrant mention today are up. Not bad.

Some of the above names are less well-known, I admit. But it is critical for us at Crunchbase News, and everyone, really, to keep eyes on China’s startup market. There is so much money flowing through the world of Chinese venture that it’s nigh-staggering.

The scale of that cash and the value creation it implies (through spiraling valuations, and so forth) is a global story. And, therefore, so too are the exits of those same companies, especially when they list abroad.

Moving past China, what we can see in the list is a very warm welcome from the markets to recent, large tech IPOs. And all those companies went out before the markets fall apart! That makes the permabear that sleeps on top of my heart happy.

More when the next set of IPOs list. (Just for fun, here’s a new one.)

From The Crunchbase Daily:

Sprint and T-Mobile to merge

U.S. wireless carriers Sprint and T-Mobile announced plans to merge in a stock transaction that values the combined company at around $146 billion. The combined company, which will go by the name T-Mobile, also plans to build a nationwide 5G network.

Flexport secures $100M for logistics

Flexport, a provider of logistics software and services for freight shippers, announced that it has raised $100 million in fresh funding from Chinese courier firm SF Express. The new round brings total funding for the five-year-old, San Francisco-based company to more than $300 million.

The Hive raises new fund for AI

The Hive, a Silicon Valley venture investor and startup creator, has raised $26.5 million for a new fund that will focus on artificial intelligence-powered applications for the enterprise.

Latina founders challenging the diversity stats

Crunchbase News profiles three Latina founders who are scaling up startups in areas ranging from smart mattress covers to legal tech to mobile networking.