5 tech IPOs to watch out for in 2014
Box’s $250m initial public offering (IPO) is far smaller than the Twitter’s, Alibaba’s and King’s of the world, but it marks the first in a long line of mid-sized tech firms who could be planning a float in the near future.
Dropbox
Online storage services Dropbox and Box were reported to be neck and neck in their IPO preparations last year. However Box will now end up hitting the market first, likely to establish itself ahead of its larger, sexier rival Dropbox.
Dropbox was reportedly on track for revenue of more than $200m in 2013 – compared with $124.2m at Box last year – and has been reportedly fundraising at an $8bn valuation.
Airbnb
The room-letting app was last week reported to be in a $400m fundraising round that would give the firm a valuation of $10bn.
If that round is successful Airbnb’s total funds raised will exceed $700m with a list of investors, including Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz, who will certainly be looking for a return on their investments.
Mind Candy
Founder Michael Acton Smith has long been a supporter of London’s Tech City and in 2012 the firm’s revenues hit £47m – the company has since launched a range of mobile apps centred around its Moshi Monsters games.
In 2012 Acton hinted that a public offering could be ahead: “Going public at some point is the smartest way forward. The [IPO] window has been opened this year where it hasn’t been in recent years.”
Square
Payments are a hot space in tech at the moment, and Square led by Twitter chairman Jack Dorsey is clearly looking to take advantage of the problems in the existing payments industry.
With its Square Reader dongle – that allows anyone with a smartphone to take a card payment with a low transaction rate of 2.75 per cent per swipe – Dorsey has grown the US-only business to process over $20bn in payments in 2013, achieving a $5bn valuation in its last fundraising round.
Uber
Chief executive Travis Kalanick has repeatedly shot down suggestions that the private car hire service will look to go public in the immediate future.
However investor excitement for the firm – which hit valuations of $3.5bn last year – is quickly growing, and Kalanick’s hints that Uber’s network of vehicles across 83 cities could carry around more than just people in the future has further stoked excitement.