It seems that the public market is warming up to tech companies that have a track record of success and can justify their high prices. Take, for example, Facebook (FB). Reports today show that its stock has been on an uptrend over the past few weeks and it’s now worth $176 per share. That’s quite a hike from where it was just a few weeks ago.
Given Facebook’s sizable market cap (it had $528 billion in value as of yesterday), this suggests that investors believe there is still potential for more growth from the company in the coming years. In other words, there are definitely buyers out there for quality tech startups with established track records – so long as those companies offer something unique and valuable to investors.
Given the growth rates at many late-stage software startups, it is likely that more will reach public-company revenue scale in 2013 and seek a smaller valuation in an IPO. While this may be disappointing to some investors who were hoping for a higher valuation in order to maximize their return, there are lots of other companies that could benefit from these startups’ rapid growth.
Among startups eyeing a debut in 2017 are several that have made the appropriate hires and are close to filing for an IPO. One such company is Reed Hastings’ Netflix, which has announced they will be hiring upwards of 1,000 new employees this year. Other startups taking aim at an IPO in 2017 include Spotify, Airbnb, and Dropbox. These companies have all made significant investments in their respective businesses and have positioned themselves well for future growth.
The new names
As the pressure to turn a profit grows for many late-stage startups, it appears that 2017 may see an increased number of companies go public. Among those in the midst of preparing for an IPO are two Massachusetts-based companies, Songkick and Kite Health. Both offer innovative consumer solutions that could appeal to a wider audience than some early-stage startups do. Songkick is a social music discovery platform, and K
- Klaviyo: According to media reports, Klaviyo is going public later this year. Or, is likely to do so, provided market conditions don’t get worse. With reported ARR of around $600 million and a last private valuation of around $9.5 billion, the marketing automation company could make a material splash when it goes public. Given that it is a pretty pure-play software company by our understanding, it could help the market figure out how to price former startups that want to list their shares.
- Remote: Guess who just announced that they hired a CFO? Remote did; it announced today. The company sits in an interesting market segment (remote employee support) and most recently raised $300 million against a valuation of more than $3 billion. Now, a CFO doesn’t mean that an IPO is around the corner, but it does mean that Remote is getting its books in order. Given that it could take a while for the IPO window to truly open, we’re content to place Remote into the “first cohort” list, even if a 2023 debut is not likely in the cards.
Companies such as Google, Amazon and Facebook have been making headlines for all the right reasons over recent years. They are pioneering in their respective industries and laying the groundwork for new ways of doing things. Additionally, they offer interesting jobs and pay fairly well. However, not all companies are created equal when it comes to these factors. Here are five lesser-known companies that should be on
