The Best PRE-IPO Companies of 2021 📃Part 2

Another quarter. Another part. Another list.

In the past, I’ve mostly covered venture-backed tech and tech-ish IPOs or pre-IPOs companies going public. You can easily find more articles before,

➡️ Read Part 1

So far this year, we have seen some high-profile late-stage startups hitting the stock markets including Coursera [COUR], Zymergen [ZY], Digital Ocean [DOCN], UiPath [PATH], Playtika [PLTK], DoubleVerify [DV], AppLovin [APP], Alkami [ALKT], TuSimple [TSP] and OLO[OLO]. We are definitely not done yet, there are still more interesting public listings that are likely to take place this year.

Occasionally, a direct listing here and there would make the list, but the vast majority of companies going public were doing so through a traditional IPO. This year looks like it will be a bit different, with the increasing popularity of SPACs and new rule changes making direct listings more favorable, now that companies can raise capital through that route.

As always, the highest demand IPOs will be challenging to attain shares before the stocks begin trading. If you can’t get pre-IPO shares, you may still position yourself to profit by acquiring shares for the long-term after the IPO.

❗️ Please note — this information is not a recommendation to buy or sell shares.

Discord IPO (Forecast Q4 2021 or Q1 2022)

• Founded Date — 2012 (HQ, SF, CA)
• Founders — Jason Citron, Stanislav Vishnevskiy

Funding traction, total raised ~$480M

• Series A — 2014 at val. $22M, $1.9457 pps
• Series B — 2015 at val. $45M, $3.3921 pps
• Series C — 2016 at val. $99,9M, $5.917 pps
• Series D — 2016 at val. $260M, $14.15 pps
• Series E — 2017 at val. $775M, $37,12 pps
• Series F — 2018 at val. $1.6B, $77 pps
• Series F1–2019 at val. $2.05B, $87.249 pps
• Series G — 2020 at val. $3.55B, $144.1809 pps
• Series H — 2020 at val. $7B, $280.2487 pps (source)

1) Discord Would Give Microsoft a $10 Billion ‘Place to Talk’ (source)

2) Chat Startup Discord Hires Its First Finance Chief to Boost Growth (source)

3) This latest fundraising had been rumored for a while, and some have described it as a “pre-IPO round” for the privately-backed startup. Prime Unicorn notes that Discord’s most recent price per share in the documentation is $280.2487, with the Series G priced at $144.1809. (source)

4) Chat startup to stay independent as it resumes interest in a potential initial public offering (source)

Trading at $550 — $620 in the secondary market (April ‘21)

Impossible Foods IPO (Forecast Q4 2021 or Q1 2022)

• Founded Date — 2011 (HQ, SF, CA)
• Founders — Monte Casino, Patrick Brown

Funding traction, total raised ~$1.4BM

• Series A — 2012 at val. $16M, $1 pps
• Series A-1–2013 at val. $18M, $0.39 pps
• Series B — 2013 at val. $130M, $1.35 pps
• Series C — 2014 at val. $260M, $2.03 pps
• Series D — 2015 at val. $700M, $4.50 pps
• Series E — 2018 at val. $2B, $10.60 pps
• Series F — 2020 at val. $3.4B, $15.42 pps
• Series G — 2020 at val. $4.2B, $16.25 pps

Impossible Foods Go Public with $10B IPO in the next 12 months (source)

Beyond Meat’s Rival Impossible Foods Gains $200M More in Funding (source)

Trading at $40 — $44 in the secondary market (April ‘21)

Rent the Runway IPO via SPAC (No Forecast, Just Rumors)

• Founded Date — 2009 (HQ, NY)
• Founders — Jennifer Fleiss, Jennifer Hyman

Funding traction, total raised ~$540M

• Series A — 2010 at val. $51M, $2.89 pps
• Series B — 2011 at val. $150M, $7.95 pps
• Series C — 2012 at val. $240M, $11.11 pps
• Series D — 2014 at val. $520M, $17.04 pps
• Series E — 2016 at val. $750M, $21.76 pps
• Series F — 2019 at val. $1B, $22.35 pps

Co-Founder gave up an operational role in the company to a board seat in 2017, as the company reportedly was eyeing an IPO

Trading at $15 — $16 in the secondary market (April ‘21)

Patreon IPO (Forecast Q4 2021)

• Founded Date — 2013 (SF, CA, US)
• Founders — Jack Conte, Sam Yam

Funding traction, total raised ~$413.3M

• Series A — 2014 at val. $65.5M, $1.9474 pps
• Series B — 2016 at val. $140M, $3.2821 pps
• Series C — 2017 at val. $450M, $6.9511 pps
• Series D — 2019 at val. $660M, $8.8707 pps
• Series E — 2020 at val. $1.29B, $17.1062 pps
• Series F — 2021 at val. $4.01B, $49.84 pps

1) Patreon Might Join Other Companies Seeking an IPO in 2021 (source)

2) Patreon considers Public Listing as soon as this tear (source)

Trading at $52 — $54 in the secondary market (April ‘21)

Duolingo IPO (Forecast June or Aug 2021)

• Founded Date — 2011 (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US)
• Founders — Luis von Ahn, Severin Hacker

Funding traction, total raised ~$183.3M

• Series A — 2011 at val. $16.27M, $0.8538 pps
• Series B — 2012 at val. $60.39M, $2.3815 pps
• Series C — 2014 at val. $196.41M, $6.7849 pps
• Series D — 2015 at val. $470M, $14.65 pps
• Series E — 2017 at val. $700M, $20.47 pps
• Series F — 2019 at val. $1.51B, $39.58 pps
• Series G — 2020 at val. $1.6B, $41.3807 pps
• Series H — 2020 at val. $2.42B, $59.76 pps

The $2.4 billion language-learning app Duolingo has hired bankers to go public as soon as this summer (source)

Trading at $65— $68 in the secondary market (April ‘21)

DataRobot IPO (Forecast Q4 2021)

• Founded Date — 2012 (Boston, Massachusetts, US)
• Founders — Jeremy Achin, Thomas DeGodoy

Funding traction, total raised ~$750.6M

• Series A — 2014 at val. $71M, $1.6022 pps
• Series B — 2016 at val. $122.11M, $1.91 pps
• Series C — 2017 at val. $282.7M, $2.9783 pps
• Series D — 2018 at val. $705M, $5.562 pps
• Series E — 2019 at val. $1.32B, $7.58 pps
• Series F — 2020 at val. $2.73B, $13.14 pps

1) Conflict Over IPO, Sales Led to CEO Ouster at DataRobot (source)

2) DataRobot eyes IPO after another VC haul (source)

Trading at $22 — $27 in the secondary market (April ‘21)

Puppet Labs IPO (No Forecast, Just Rumors)

Sorry, the information could not be disclosed.

Please contact the corporate department to request data.

Portland tech company Puppet sets 2021 target for IPO (source)

✅SentinelOne IPO (Forecast June 2021)

• Founded Date — 2013 (SF, CA, US)
• Founders — Almog Cohen, Ehud Shamir, Tomer Weingarten

Funding traction, total raised ~$696.5M

• Series A — 2014 at val. $47M, $0.7799 pps
• Series B — 2015 at val. $98.25M, $1.1996 pps
• Series C — 2017 at val. $210M, $1.746 pps
• Series D — 2019 at val. $576M, $3.2833 pps
• Series E — 2020 at val. $1.12B, $4.8617 pps
• Series F — 2020 at val. $3.08B, $12.06 pps

1) SentinelOne plans IPO at $10b valuation (source)

2) SentinelOne eyes $10B IPO for later this year (source)

Trading at $18— $20 in the secondary market (April ‘21)

✅Flywire IPO (Forecast May 2021)

Sorry, the information could not be disclosed.

Please contact the corporate department to request data.

Payments firm Flywire plans IPO at $3 billion valuation (source)

Warby Parker IPO (Forecast Aug or Sep 2021)

• Founded Date — 2010 (NY, US)
• Founders — Andrew Hunt, David Gilboa, Jeffrey Raider, Neil Blumenthal

Funding traction, total raised ~$535.5M

• Series A — 2011 at val. $132M, $1.8354 pps
• Series B — 2013 at val. $293M, $3.45 pps
• Series C — 2013 at val. $524M, $5.4682 pps
• Series D — 2015 at val. $1.22B, $11.4853 pps
• Series E — 2018 at val. $1.75B, $15.17 pps
• Series G — 2020 at val. $3B, $31.05 pps

1) Warby Parker plans U.S. IPO as soon as this year (source)

2) Glasses seller Warby Parker eyeing IPO as soon as this year (source)

Trading at $45 — $48 in the secondary market (April ‘21)

Turo IPO (Forecast Q4 2021)

• Founded Date — 2009 (SF, CA, US)
• Founders — Shelby Clark

Funding traction, total raised ~$467.4M

• Series A(A2) — 2013 at val. $40M, $0.568 pps
• Series B — 2014 at val. $116M, $1.0515 pps
• Series C — 2015 at val. $336M, $2.3885 pps
• Series D — 2018 at val. $736M, $4.669 pps
• Series E — 2020 at val. $1.24B, $3.80 pps

Turo CEO Says Car-Renting App Plans to Go Public in 2021 (source)

Trading at $4.5 — $4.8 in the secondary market (April ‘21)

✅ TradeShift IPO (Forecast Q4 2021)

• Founded Date — 2009 (SF, CA, US)
• Founders — Christian Lanng, Gert Sylvest, Mikkel Brun

Funding traction, total raised ~$661M

• Series A — 2011 at val. $100M, $4.76 pps
• Series B — 2013 at val. $152M, $9 pps
• Series C — 2014 at val. $300M, $11.69 pps
• Series D — 2016 at val. $600M, $13 pps
• Series E — 2018 at val. $1.1B, $17,54 pps
• Series F — 2020 at val. $2.7B, $22 pps

1) Tradeshift Gets $2.7B Valuation in Pre-IPO Fundraise (source)

2) Tradeshift raises $240M and appears to put its expected IPO on hold — for now (source)

Trading at $14— $16 in the secondary market (April ‘21)

✅Hippo IPO via SPAC $RTPZ (Forecast Q3 2021)

• Founded Date — 2015 (SF, CA, US)
• Founders — Assaf Wand, Eyal Navon

Funding traction, total raised ~$709M

• Series A — 2016 at val. $29M, $1.11 pps
• Series B — 2018 at val. $125M, $3.5976 pps
• Series C — 2018 at val. $385M, $7.98 pps
• Series D — 2019 at val. $1B, $15.16 pps
• Series E — 2020 at val. $1.54B, $19.66 pps

Home Insurance Agency Hippo to Go Public in $5B SPAC (source)

Allbirds IPO (Forecast Q4 2021)

• Founded Date — 2014 (SF, CA, US)
• Founders — Joseph Zwillinger, Tim Brown

Funding traction, total raised ~$202.5M

• Series A — 2016 at val. $32.25M, $0.2842 pps
• Series B — 2017 at val. $368M, $2.99 pps
• Series C — 2018 at val. $1.4B, $10.97 pps
• Series D — 2020 at val. $1.73B, $12.89 pps
• Series E — 2020 at val. $1.69B, $11.56 pps

1) Shoemaker Allbirds reportedly in talks with banks for IPO as public market heats up (source)

2) Allbirds Takes Steps Toward IPO (source)

Trading at $16 — $18 in the secondary market (April ‘21)

Plaid IPO (Forecast Q4 2021 or Q1 2022)

• Founded Date — 2013 (SF, CA, US)
• Founders — William Hockey, Zachary Perret

Funding traction, total raised ~$734.3M

• Series A — 2015 at val. $52.5M, $3.90 pps
• Series B — 2016 at val. $225M, $13.26 pps
• Series C — 2018 at val. $2.62B, $129.3 pps
• Series D — 2021 at val. $13.4B, $780 pps

Plaid just raised $425 million at a $13.4 billion valuation, bringing on new investors Altimeter, Silver Lake, and Ribbit as it eyes an eventual IPO (source)

Trading at $850— $1000 in the secondary market (April ‘21)

About the Author

Mr. Koch — a serial entrepreneur and late-stage investor specializing in secondary shares.

Previously: Twilio, Xiaomi, iQiyi, PinDuoDuo, Tilray, Livongo, Agora, Bandwidth, Hims.

Currently: Robinhood, Enflame, Grab, Toss, Coursera, Oatly, Epic Games, Chime, and other companies.

Contact — here, If you are a startup building in this space — email or DM me to be included on this article.

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The content was collected from various open sources, approved by companies, and does not provide any one-stop recommendation for the purchase of shares. All data was used for only informational purposes and does not contain insider information that may be malicious or refuted by the company and SEC.

This communication does not represent an offer or solicitation to buy or sell securities. Such an offer must be made via definitive legal documentation by the buyer or seller of securities, please check the SEC rules before buying shares from any stock-suppliers.