2019 saw a bunch of IPOs in the tech world. These included Lyft, Zoom, Slack and many more giants.
For many, IPOing is one way of successfully ‘exiting’ in the world of startups. Many startups IPO as early within their Series C rounds whilst others into their late venture rounds.
Not only do VCs and investors get returns for their investments but it allows the public to buy into a company. It also rewards early-stage founders and employees with their efforts and allows for vesting to occur.
In 2020, there are huge anticipations surrounding some startups as well as some surprising entries.
Note: Many of these companies could be defined beyond a ‘startup’ but for the purpose of the article, I will still refer to them as a startup.
1. Airbnb
Airbnb has known for its delays in IPOing for years.
Their founders have stated they don’t see any need to IPO multiple times in recent years. Airbnb has raised over $4.8 billion at a $35 billion valuation which makes it one of the highest funded startups.
However in a surprising statement last year in September, they released a one-liner with intentions of this IPO.
This was further confirmed in a press conference that saw a 2020 November target for IPO.
With their cash flow and profitability, it would not be a surprise for Airbnb to pursue a DPO instead of an IPO but there have been no intentions mentioned currently.
Key Fact Summary
Founding Date: Aug 11, 2008
Total Funding Amount: $4.4 Billion
Funding Type: Late Stage Venture
2. Asana
Founded by Dustin Moskovitz, one of the original co-founders of Facebook, popular workplace management tool Asana, known for its enterprise focus has been teasing an idea of IPOing in a report released by the Financial Times in 2020.
It competes with the likes of Trello and Basecamp and is looking for a DPO versus the typical IPO route.
This may indicate that Asana is a strong financial position and does not need initial funding on top of its $213 million dollars of total funding and thus eyeing a Direct Public Offering instead.
Key Fact Summary
Founding Date: 2008
Total Funding Amount: $213.2M
Funding Type: Series E Stage
3. Unity
A popular 3D development engine and platform popularly used to create games. Unity powers games like Deux Ex, Hearthstone and Assassin’s Creed as well as a bunch of Indie games across the world.
Gaming itself has taken off tremendously with the growth fueled by media, celebrities, and the community. As an example, The Witcher series released on Netflix has catapulted the game, The Witcher 3, with a record number of sales and players.
As new games are being developed, engines like Unity and Unreal are in the thick of it all.
Last year, Unity raised a whopping $525 million in a move to let insiders sell stocks and reduce the need for an IPO.
However, this may shine a light that it might look to IPO in 2020 or possibly early 2021 in order to raise additional funds.
There has been no official announcement but in its current size and business model, there is speculation on an IPO.
Key Fact Summary
Founding Date: 2004
Total Funding Amount: $1.4 Billion
Funding Type: Late Stage Venture
4. Procore Technologies
Procore is a cloud-based construction management software company based in Carpinteria California. It was founded by Crag Courtemanche after his struggles in managing the construction of his own home in Santa Barbara.
Although a less known name in the list, Procore allows large teams of construction companies, property owners as well as other related personnel to collaborate on large scale construction projects which include sharing data with each other.
In each year since 2010, Procore has managed to grow its revenue by 100% makes it even more appealing to investors. In 2018, it raised a further $75 million, putting its valuation at $3 billion dollars.
It has since reportedly hired Goldman Sachs to lead an IPO at a valuation at a possible $4 billion.
Key Fact Summary
Founding Date: Aug 11, 2008
Total Funding Amount: $4.4 Billion
Funding Type: Series H
5. Gitlab
Not to be confused with Github (bought by Microsoft for $7.5 billion), Gitlab focuses on developing software development and collaboration tools for devs. Although competing with Github, Gitlab is focusing on pushing DevOps workflow in order to become a ‘complete DevOps platform’.
Announced by co-founders and CEO Sid Sijbrandij in 2018, he states that he is looking to take his company public on November 18th, 2020. This aligns with Gitlab’s radical transparency policy who is known for posting meetings and presentations online for the public to view.
An all remote team of 1000 employees, Gitlab achieved unicorn status in 2018 after raising more than $100 million from Iconiq Capital.
Key Fact Summary
Founding Date: 2014
Total Funding Amount: $436.2 Million
Funding Type: Series E
6. RobinHood
Robinhood is a very popular investment app known for its waiting list growth strategy as well as its commission-free stock trading platform.
Although it’s financial model may be a bit shaky for wall street investors (it makes its money by earning interest on money it holds for customers), it has raised a huge amount of money. It has since received a valuation of $7.6 billion after a $323 million funding round in July 2019.
Co-founder and Co-CEO Baiju Bhatt told an audience in 2018 that the company was readying for an IPO.
With the hiring of multiple executives including Google Veteran Gretcehn Engster Howard and Amazon veteran Jason Warnick as its CFO, it looks like the company is preparing itself to IPO soon.
Key Fact Summary
Founding Date: 2013
Total Funding Amount: $912 Million
Funding Type: Series E
7. SnowFlake
Snowflake is a cloud computing business founded in 2012, focusing on data warehousing. It competes with the likes of Teradata and Google BigQuery.
Although there has been no public mention of an IPO, a huge sign that it is looking towards that direction was hiring ServiceNow’s ex-CEO Frank Slootman.
He added in ServiceNow’s own CFO into the mix and is now focused on generating more profitability and a stronger balance sheet which hints towards a pathway to IPO.
Key Fact Summary
Founding Date: 2012
Total Funding Amount: $928.9 Million
Funding Type: Series F
Summary
There are many companies that are heading towards a possible IPO in 2020, many of which are not on this list.
With global financial uncertainty as well as more companies opting for direct public offerings, it will be interesting to see which companies will actually IPO, DPO or delay it indefinitely.