The Techee

Lulu's , an online retailer of women's apparel, is headed towards the public markets. It's filed an S-1 document for an initial public offering (IPO), showing its intent to list on the Nasdaq exchange. As expected from S-1 filings, Lulu's has provided great insights into its business, with information not publicly disclosed before. Something very noteworthy is that the online shopping boom of this year emanating from the Covid pandemic has largely favored the company. By The Numbers For its most recent fiscal quarter, the three months ended October 3, 2021, Lulu's brought in between $105mn to $106mn in revenue. Its net income for the same period was at the $3mn-$4mn mark. The estimations are because the final, audited results haven't yet been posted. For the fiscal year ended January 3, 2021, Lulu's posted $249mn in revenue and a net loss of $19mn. It shows that the company has swung from losses to profitability this year, with the net profit of between $3m

NerdWallet , a popular financial information website, has unveiled its S-1 paperwork filed with the US SEC for an initial public offering (IPO). It's the latest fintech startup kickstarting a journey to the public markets at a time when investor sentiment towards public fintech companies is very favorable. NerdWallet is a popular online destination for financial advice and information pertaining primarily to Americans. It makes money from promoting financial products to its users and getting commissions when purchased, a very lucrative business, as the S-1 paperwork indicates. According to the S-1, NerdWallet has a big business that's also profitable . The company posted $245mn in revenue and a small net profit of $6mn in 2020. In 2019, it posted $228mn in revenue and a $24mn net profit.  However, in the first half of 2021, NerdWallet posted a net loss $27mn, though its revenue for the same period grew 32% year-over-year to $182mn. Basically, NerdWallet is a very solid busines

Udemy , a popular platform for online educational courses, is the latest tech company to begin the journey towards listing on the public markets. It has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the US, where it's based. Udemy has unveiled an S-1 filing  with the US SEC, showing its intent to list on the Nasdaq exchange. As usual, the S-1 document provides great insight into the ed-tech company's business with information not publicly disclosed before.  Udemy is a vast marketplace for online courses covering many fields. It is primarily a marketplace and doesn't employ teachers directly. It takes fees from courses sold on its platform as revenue. The marketplace business for online education is apparently a very strong one, enough to pull in $430mn of revenue for Udemy in 2020, compared to $276mn in 2019. In the first half of 2021, Udemy made $251mn in revenue, up 24% year-over-year. The pandemic of 2020 led to a boom in demand for online education, and it shows that Ud

One of India's premier startups, Oyo , has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) to be held locally. According to draft papers filed with India's market regulator, it plans to raise about 84.3 billion rupees ($1.2bn) in its IPO. Oyo is a hotel aggregator and booking site. It manages hotels and other types of residential properties on behalf of its owners, setting them up with its brand and technology and then taking a cut of the accommodation fees as revenue. Founded in 2013, Oyo has grown rapidly to become one of India's biggest startups, and along the way, it has raised over $4bn in venture funding. It's now set to raise even more money with an IPO to be held in India. Though, there have been questions regarding Oyo's growth and its business viability in the long term. For example, last year, a New York Times report  alleged shoddy tactics that drove Oyo's growth, such as working with unlicensed hotels and guesthouses and withholding payments from hote

Rivian , an electric car startup that has raised billions from investors including e-commerce giant Amazon, has unveiled its S-1 filing for an initial public offering. The S-1 filing gives great insight into the startup's operations, with information not publicly disclosed before. Rivian is one of the up-and-coming challengers to the dominant electric carmakers in America. It's one of the highest-funded EV startups ever, with nearly $11bn raised pre-production. In its product pipeline, Rivian has two consumer vehicles, the R1T truck and R1S SUV , as well as a cargo van made for Amazon, a strategic investor that has ordered 100,000 units.  Let's have a look at some key stats and information contained in Rivian's S-1 filing, starting with its financial figures. Expectedly, Rivian is recording hefty losses as it's setting up production before it starts selling cars to customers. The company posted a $1bn loss in 2020 and $426mn the year before. In the first half

A diagnostics startup that found treasures amid dirt from the Covid-19 pandemic has stamped its success with a successful initial public offering (IPO). It's Cue Health , a little-known startup from San Diego that rapidly switched its focus to making Covid-19 testing kits on the onset of the pandemic and has built a big business with that. Cue Health debuted on the Nasdaq exchange on Friday, the 24th of September, raising $200mn before commissions and other underwriting expenses. Its stock climbed 25% on that day to end trading at $20, giving it a market cap of $2.9bn . Cue Health is one of the significant startup success stories to emerge from the pandemic. Before it started providing Covid testing kits, its annual sales were numbered in the low-digit millions but shot up to $23mn in 2020  on the pandemic's onset and $202mn in the first half of 2021 . Because of its fast pivot to providing Covid testing kits, Cue Health was an early mover. Thus, it got lucrative testing contr

In South Korea, Kakao is one of the leading tech giants, best known for its  KakaoTalk messenger app. But like many tech companies, it's long branched out from messaging into other sectors such as gaming and fintech and made strides there. In fintech, Kakao has a separate digital bank ( KakaoBank ) and mobile payments and wallet app ( Kakao Pay ). The Korean tech giant took KakaoBank public this July with an IPO that raised $2.2bn and didn't just stop there. It then sought to take Kakao Pay public in a separate IPO but has hit some obstacles trying to do so. Just as it sought to take Kakao Pay public, the South Korean government toughened regulations on fintech apps. It made Kakao Pay suspend some services like insurance though the suspended services accounted for a minor part of its revenue. Then, Kakao Pay adjusted its IPO fundraising target to $1.3bn , 6% lower than it previously sought. But even with the hiccups, Kakao Pay still sought to go public by October this year

A major tech company from France has kicked off preparations for an initial public offering (IPO) on the country's domestic exchanges in what would mark one of the landmark tech IPOs to emerge from France in recent years. It's OVHCloud , a cloud hosting provider that's known to be the largest of its kind in Europe.  OVHCloud is akin to the AWS of Europe. It has many data centers scattered across the globe that forms the backbone of its cloud hosting services. Now over two decades since it was founded (in 1999), the company appears headed for an exit with a public listing. OVHcloud just recently announced plans to list its shares on the Euronext Paris stock exchange which is France's largest securities market. The company intends to raise up to €400 mn ($470mn) from the IPO, it said. As usual with companies registering to go public, OVHCloud opened its books and provided major insights about its business with information not publicly disclosed before. The primary metri

This week, one startup caught us off guard with a filing for an initial public offering that was unveiled late on Friday . It was GitLab , a popular code repository hosting service that's the main rival to GitHub .  GitLab recently unveiled its S-1 filing with the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) as is usual for companies taking the IPO route on the US markets. The S-1 filing provided great insight and detail into GitLab's business with information not publicly disclosed before, and we're here to dissect some of the most important information extracted from the bulky filing. Firstly, we'll be focusing on revenue and sales numbers which is of course the primary statistic for every business. Let's start with the fact GitLab has a solid business model bringing in solid sales and growing steadily, but the company is racking up significant losses.  Business Model : GitLab makes money by charging enterprise customers for paid features and integrations of its

Catching us as a surprise late on Friday, GitLab , a popular coding platform and rival to GitHub,  has filed for an IPO in the US. GitLab is a popular code repository hosting service for software developers and is the 2nd-largest of its kind only beaten by GitHub.  While GitHub sold to Microsoft for $7.5bn three years ago, GitLab has remained independent and now is about to test the waters as a publicly-traded company. GitLab has unveiled its S-1 filing with the US SEC as is usual for companies looking to go public in the US and the S-1 document provides great insight into the GitLab's business with information not publicly disclosed before. Therefore, we'll be extracting some of the most important info from the bulky filing, mostly on its revenue stats. By the Numbers GitLab reported  $152mn in revenue in the fiscal year ended January 2021, compared to $81mn in the preceding year. In the first half of 2021, the company brought in $108mn in sales, compared to $64mn in t

The IPO train of 2021 has been boarded by many hot tech startups, some of which have debuted on the public markets this year ( Robinhood , Coinbase , et al) and some of which still await their debut this year.  In this fresh month of September, the first major tech startup to hop on the IPO train is a startup specialized in internet-of-things (IoT) and telematics. It's Samsara , a company founded by two serial entrepreneurs who sold their previous tech company for over a billion dollars. Samsara specializes in hardware and accompanying software used by fleet operators (trucks, buses, etc) to monitor and keep track of their fleet in real-time. In the logistics industry, monitoring large fleets is of utmost importance and this is a niche in which many companies have built big businesses providing the monitoring tools. Samsara has said it's submitted a draft confidential filing for an IPO as is usual with companies seeking to go public. The submission of this draft document prece

Remitly , a fintech startup focused on cross-border remittance payments, has charged ahead on the IPO train. The company has unveiled an S-1 document for an IPO with the US SEC, showing its intention to list on the Nasdaq exchange. Remitly is focused on cross-border remittance payments between developed countries like the US where people tend to immigrate to and developing or underdeveloped nations where people tend to migrate from. It's very useful for immigrants looking to send money to their home countries that they earn working abroad. Right now, Remitly supports cross-border payments from 17 countries to over 115 countries, transacting in about 75 currencies. That's a niche that the company has built on since its inception. In a large fintech market, focusing on a niche like Remitly can build a big business, as proven with the company's financials. Its S-1 filing shows  $257mn in revenue in 2020, double the previous year. In the first six months of 2021, the company

Freshworks , a startup that's built a big business in the space of providing software for Customer Relationship Management (CRM), has filed for an initial public offering on the US markets. Notably, it's a startup based in America but of Indian origin. Freshworks was started by  Girish Mathrubootham , an Indian entrepreneur, back in his country. It began as Freshdesk , a help desk software suite, before renaming as Freshworks when it began making other customer support tools. As a top provider of CRM software, 11-year-old Freshworks has built a strong business for itself. Its S-1 filing with the SEC shows that the company brought in $250mn in sales in 2020 and $169mn in the first six months of 2021. Though, the company has mostly been loss-making, not unusual with certain types of fast-growing startups. Freshworks reported a $58mn net loss in 2020 and $10mn in the first six months of 2021. Compared to its revenue, that seems on the par for fast-growing startups and not st

Rivian , an electric car startup that's raised boatloads of venture money, appears to now have its eyes set on the public markets to raise even more. The startup, backed by investors including Ford and Amazon , has confidentially filed for an initial public offering. Usually, before a company goes public, it submits a confidential S-1 document having in-depth information about its operations, before the document is reviewed by regulators and then made public at a chosen date. In Rivian's case, it's just submitted the draft confidential filing so we won't be getting much-anticipated info about the hot EV startup's business yet. Rivian seems like the most-watched American electric car startup, with hopes of being a challenger to the likes of Tesla and GM. With big ambitions and promises, the company has raised nearly $11bn from investors, including $2.5bn just last month , despite having not mass-produced its vehicles. In its pipeline, Rivian has two electric cars;

A certain startup known for its chic brand of eyewear is charging ahead with its plans to debut on the public markets. It's Warby Parker , a brand that's won many customers in the eyewear space since it was founded about a decade ago. Warby Parker has unveiled its S-1 filing for an initial public offering, clearing the way for its imminent Wall Street debut. It's holding a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange, meaning it's  bypassing intermediary banks to  sell its shares directly to the public, a path that's become favored among startups of this era. As usual with S-1 filings, it provides a great insight into Warby Parker's business with info that's been shielded from the public before now. Here, we're extracting some insight from the bulky filing to break it down into clearer bits, mostly on the company's revenue stats. By the Numbers Warby Parker's business was having a good time of steady growth before the Covid pandemic of 2020 in

PolicyBazaar , an Indian insurance-tech startup, has filed for an initial public offering on the country's domestic markets. It recently submitted documents to the market regulator in India, showing its intention to raise a substantial sum with a public debut. PolicyBazaar is an online insurance services aggregator and comparator. Basically, it's a marketplace for choosing and buying insurance plans, with the company making money from leads generation and fees charged for policy sales on its platform. Filed papers indicate that PolicyBazaar's IPO size is the equivalent of $809mn. Out of that, $504mn is sought to be raised by PolicyBazaar for itself while the rest ($305mn) will be existing investors in the company selling their shares. Also, the company indicated that it may consider raising about $100mn in a pre-IPO round. Among the existing investors selling include SoftBank , which plans to sell shares worth over $250mn , and PolicyBazaar's founders who plan to sell

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken a swipe at Chinese initial public offerings (IPOs) after regulatory hiccups in China have affected many Chinese stocks listed on US markets and American stockholders holding them. The SEC has issued new guidance on Chinese companies seeking to list shares in the US, requiring them to make certain disclosures to investors or otherwise refrain from listing in the US markets. First of all, usually, Chinese companies listing in the US don't actually sell shares of the operating companies but that of shell companies with contractual relationships with the operating companies. These shell shares, known as American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) , are used to circumvent restrictions on foreign ownership of Chinese shares imposed by the country's government. Now, the SEC in a statement has made it clear that Chinese companies seeking to list in the US must provide clear descriptions of the shell operations involved in such listing

Riskified , a fraud detection startup serving e-commerce companies, is the latest tech company that's filed for an initial public offering (IPO). The Israeli company has unveiled an F-1 filing with the US SEC as required for foreign companies seeking to list in the US. Riskified provides fraud detection software to online retailers that use it to help curtail fraudulent transactions. The niche of fraud prevention in online retail is one that's birthed many successful companies, Riskified being one of them. In its IPO, Riskified is offering 17.3 million shares at a price point between $18 and $20, implying proceeds of between $315mn-$350mn. Additionally, the company's co-founder and current CTO Assaf Feldman is selling 200k shares in the offering to get between $3.6mn-$4mn. Riskified is targeting a valuation upwards of $3bn from its public offering. As usual, a company's IPO filing provides great insight into its business with specific information on its revenues. Let&

Paytm , India's foremost fintech startup, has filed for a big IPO on the country's domestic exchanges. According to draft papers filed with India's market regulator on Friday, the company is planning to raise up to 166 billion rupees ( $2.2bn ) in an initial public offering. Half of the money Paytm plans to raise from its IPO will be from selling new shares to add to the company's coffers while the other half will be from existing shareholders selling stakes.  Paytm's major shareholders include SoftBank (18.7%), China's Ant Group (30.3%), Elevation Capital (17.65%), and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. With over $4bn raised, Paytm is one of India's biggest-funded startups. It was valued at $16bn from its last funding round. Another major Paytm shareholder is founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma with a roughly 15% stake. According to the draft papers, One97 Communications, Paytm's parent firm, has a solid business bringing in solid revenues, though the

Chobani , a popular and favorite yogurt maker for many in the US, is clearing its path towards a public listing that'll likely happen soon. The company has said that it's filed a confidential draft registration statement for an IPO with the US SEC, implying that its public listing is around the corner. Chobani is a one-of-a-kind success story that's remained in the control of its founder for a long time. The company was founded in 2005 by Hamdi Ulukaya , a Turkish immigrant to the US with a family history of dairy farming. Ulukaya launched Chobani in 2005 by taking a government loan to buy a factory that was being vacated by Kraft Foods. He bought and retooled the factory together with some former Kraft employees and saw Chobani's brand of thick, strained yogurt become the best-selling of its kind in the US. Chobani has remained controlled by its founder Hamdi Ulukaya (and some employees) since its launch. The company's only known external shareholder now is the H