The Best PRE-IPO Companies of 2021 Part 1
It’s all about stimulus
The supply is deep.
Previously I published over 10 articles on day-to-day work with the venture capital industry and those people who are involved in the private market of companies to one degree or another. Each post reflected reality depending on the political instability in the US, stock market corrections, the release of new stimulus, which subsequently increased the growth of newbies investors to the public market.
What can I say today?
We are still on the same page as before, where the main trigger for market growth is not fundamental growth in the US economy. We are more dependent on stimulus than ever and major stock market indices reflect this new reality.
Venture-backed unicorns — pre-IPO companies with valuations above $1 billion — are piling up like kindling. According to CB Insights, there are over 490 unicorns. By contrast, there are just shy of 2,000 companies trading on the Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange with valuations above $1 billion. In other words, if all the unicorns magically listed at once, the number of large-cap US-listed companies would increase by 25% or over. Most but not all unicorns are tech businesses, so consider this: Over the past three years, there have been a total of 150 tech IPOs. The current supply of unicorns is equal to 14 years of tech stock debuts.
The cloud is working its magic. With so many people working and studying from home as a result of the pandemic, companies of every variety are shifting computing resources to the cloud. That’s driven up demand at almost every cloud business. Sure, the tech giants have bet big on the cloud, but unlike e-commerce, internet search, and smartphones, the cloud is a wide-open market. “Cloud computing” is just a method for delivering software. It covers a lot of territory. Among the new IPO registrants are Snowflake, cloud-based data management; Asana, cloud-based work management software; JFrog, software release management from the cloud; and Sumo Logic, cloud-based analytics software.
Timing is everything.
- The mega-trend of digital transformation continues to thrust more companies into the public markets. Many companies realize that to remain competitive, they must adopt modern technology such as cloud computing, analytics an artificial intelligence — and that means a vibrant technology-sector IPO market in 2021.
- Also, venture capital markets have been flush with cash for the past decade. They have spent that cash by investing in thousands of startups, which has allowed them to quickly scale. The next logical step: The IPO, which provides still more capital … and gives founders, employees and VCs a way to cash in.
- Thanks to pushes from the likes of online brokerage Robinhood, trading stocks has become free (or much cheaper) for most investors. That has helped spur larger numbers of young investors looking for high-growth opportunities, like IPO stocks.
Here we go and let’s take a look at some of the most anticipated upcoming IPOs for 2021.
✅ Robinhood IPO (Forecast July or August 2021)
- Founded Date — 2013 (HQ, SF, CA)
- Founders — Baiju Bhatt, Vlad Tenev
Funding traction, total raised ~$5.6B
- Series A — 2014 at val. $66M, $0.20 pps
- Series B — 2015 at val. $270M, $0.64 pps
- Series C — 2017 at val. $1.31B, $2.51 pps
- Series D — 2018 at val. $5.61B, $10.15 pps
- Series E — 2019 at val. $7.6B, $12.48 pps
- Series F — 2020 at val. $8.6B, $12.50 pps (source)
- Series G — 2020 at val. $12B (source)
Trading at $52— $54 in the secondary market (March ‘21)
Chime IPO (Forecast Q1 or Q2 2022)
- Founded Date — 2013 (HQ, SF, CA)
- Founders — Chris Britt, Ryan King
Funding traction, total raised ~$1.5B + private transactions
- Series A — 2014 at val. $32.5M, $0.272 pps
- Series A2–2015 at val. $34.5M, $0.2592 pps
- Series B — 2017 at val. $90M, $0.4703 pps
- Series C/C1–2018 at val. $494M, $2.1258 pps
- Series D — 2019 at val. $1.45B, $5.22 pps
- Series E — 2019 at val. $5.82B, $17.2618 pps
- Series F — 2020 at val. $14.34B, $40.92 pps (source)
Chime has held preliminary talks with investment banks about launching a stock market flotation, which could value the financial services startup at more than $30 billion, as soon as the end of 2021.
Tucked inside a CNBC article that broke the story was news that Chime is now EBITDA profitable and could be “IPO-ready” in its CEO’s eyes in around a year’s time.
Instacart DPO (Forecast Q4 2021 or M&A)
- Founded Date — 2012 (HQ, SF, CA)
- Founders — Apoorva Mehta, Brandon Leonardo, Max Mullen
Funding traction, total raised ~$2.4B + private transactions
- Series A — 2013 at val. $26M, $2.98 pps
- Series B/B1–2014 at val. $400M, $2.98 pps
- Series C — 2014 at val. $2.1B, $13.31 pps
- Series D/D1–2017 at val. $3.5B, $18.52 pps
- Series E /E1–2018 at val. $4.37B, $20.11 pps
- Series F — 2018 at val. $7.6B, $29.74 pps
- Series G — 2020 at val. $13.74B, $48.09 pps (source)
- Series H — 2020 at val. $17.7B, $60 pps (source)
✅ Marqeta IPO (Forecast May or June 2021)
- Founded Date — 2010 (HQ, SF, CA)
- Founders — Jason Gardner
Funding traction, total raised ~$528M + private transactions
- Series A — 2011 at val. $17.11M, $0.06 pps
- Series B — 2013 at val. $102.33M, $0.3 pps
- Series C — 2015 at val. $147M, $0.35 pps
- Series D-D1–2018 at val. $527M, $1.20 pps
- Series E — 2019 at val. $1.89B, $3.9 pps
Trading at $32— $36 in the secondary market (Feb ‘21)
U.S. payments startup Marqeta files with regulators for IPO (source)
✅ Coursera IPO (Forecast April 2021)
- Founded Date — 2012 (HQ, Mountain View, CA)
- Founders — Andrew Ng, Daphne Koller
Funding traction, total raised ~$480M
- Series A — 2012 at val. n/a, $.096 pps
- Series B — 2013 at val. $360M, $4.9 pps
- Series C — 2015 at val. $405M, $5.09 pps
- Series D/D1–2017 at val. ~$800M, $7.5 pps
- Series E — 2019 at val. ~$1.3B, $12 pps
- Series F — 2020, at val. ~$2.5B, $17 pps (source)
Trading at $35 — $38 in the secondary market (Feb ‘21)
Gitlab IPO (Forecast Q4 2021)
- Founded Date — 2011 (HQ, SF, CA)
- Founders — Dmitriy Zaporozhets, Sid Sijbrandij
Funding traction, total raised ~$436M + private transactions
- Series A — 2015+ follow up at val. $8.7M, $0.36 pps
- Series B — 2016 at val. $53M (post-money), $0.95 pps
- Series C — 2017 at val. $200M, $1.79 pps
- Series D — 2018 at val. $1.1B (post-money), $8.67 pps
- Series E — 2019 at val. $2.8B, $18.63 pps
Trading at $38 — $40 in the secondary market (Feb ‘21)
✅ UiPath IPO (Forecast April 2021)
- Founded Date — 2005 (HQ, NY)
- Founders — Daniel Dines, Marius Tirca
Funding traction, total raised ~$2B
- Series A1-A2 at val. $140M (post-money), $0.03 (A1) $0.31 (A2) pps
- Series B — 2018 at val. $1.4B (post-money), $2.70 pps
- Series C — 2018 at val. $3.4B (post-money), $6.38 pps
- Series D — 2019 at val. $7.1 B, $13.12 pps
- Series E — 2020 at val. $10.2 B, $18.59 pps (source)
- Series F — 2021 at val. $35B, $62.25 pps (source)
Robotic automation company UiPath files to go public — revenue up but it’s still losing money (source)
DataBricks IPO (Forecast Q4 2021 or Q1 2022)
- Founded Date — 2013 (HQ, SF, CA)
- Founders — Ali Ghodsi, Andy Konwinski, Ion Stoica, Matei Zaharia, Patrick Wendell, Reynold Xin, Scott Shenker
Funding traction, total raised ~$1.9B + private transactions
- Series A — 2013 at val. $50M, $0.78 pps
- Series B — 2014 at val. $240M, $3.35 pps
- Series C — 2016 at val. $510M, $5.90 pps
- Series D — 2017 at val. $940M, $8.38 pps
- Series E — 2019 at val. $2.7B, $21.29 pps
- Series F — 2019 at val. $6.2B, $42.95 pps (source)
- Series G- 2021 at val. $27.96B, $177.3679 pps (source)
✅ DarkTrace IPO (Forecast April or May 2021)
- Founded Date — 2013 (HQ, SF CA and Cambridge UK)
- Founders — Dave Palmer, Emily Orton, Jack Stockdale, Nicole Eagan, Poppy Gustafsson
Funding traction, total raised ~$239M + private transactions
- Series A — 2015 at val. $73M, $53.71 pps
- Series B — 2015 at val. $120M, $70.42 pps
- Series C — 2016 at val. $220M, $116.85 pps
- Series C1–2016 at val. $390M, $189.83 pps
- Series D — 2017 at val. $810M, $373 pps
- Series E — 2018 at val. $1.6B, $716.48 pps
Darktrace primed for huge IPO (source, source 2, source 3, source 4)
✅ Coinbase DPO (Forecast April 2021)
- Founded Date — 2012 (HQ, SF, CA)
- Founders — Brian Armstrong, Fred Ehrsam
Funding traction, total raised ~$547M+ private transactions
- Series A — 2013 at val. $23M, $0.20 pps
- Series B — 2013 at val. $150M, $1 pps
- Series C — 2014 at val. $500M, $2.76 pps
- Series C1–2016 at val. $510M, $2.76 pps
- Series D — 2017 at val. $1.6B, $8.25 pps
- Series E — 2018 at val. ~$8B, $36.19 pps
Coinbase valued above $100 billion, ahead of direct listing (source)
ThoughtSpot IPO (Forecast Q4 2021)
- Founded Date — 2012 (HQ, Sunnyvale, CA)
- Founders — Abhishek Rai, Abhishek Rai, Ajeet Singh, Amit Prakash, Priyendra Deshwal, Priyendra Deshwal, Sanjay Agrawal, Shashank Gupta, Vijay Ganesan
Funding traction, total raised ~$600M + private transactions
- Series A — 2012 at val. $31M, $0.88 pps
- Series B — 2014 at val. $140M, $3.13 pps
- Series C — 2016 at val. $290M, $4.94 pps
- Series C-1–2017 at val. $440M, $5.76 pps
- Series D — 2018 at val. $880M, $9.69 pps
- Series E — 2019 at val. $2B, $13.83 pps
- Corprorate Round — 01.09.2021, Raised $20M from Snowflake (Source)
ThoughtSpot Preps For Public Debut (source) 02/08/2021
Analytics startup ThoughtSpot just raised $20 million from $60 billion Snowflake — and it plans to IPO when it fulfills three goals (Source)
ThoughtSpot Names CFO As it Eyes Public Offering (source)
Trading at ~$25 in the secondary market (May ‘21)
Intercom IPO (Forecast Q4 2021)
- Founded Date — 2011 (HQ, SF, CA)
- Founders — Ciaran Lee, David Barrett, Des Traynor, Eoghan McCabe
Funding traction, total raised ~$291M + private transactions
- Series A — 2013 at val. $29M, $1.89 pps
- Series B — 2014 at val. $97M, $4.89 pps
- Series C — 2015 at val. $300M, $13.69 pps
- Series C-1–2015 at val. $520M, $21.85 pps
- Series D — 2018 at val. $1.2B, $46.43 pps
Intercom hires a CFO as it ramps toward an IPO (source, source 2)
Trading at $72 — $80 in the secondary market (March ‘21)
✅ Procore IPO (Forecast June or July 2021)
- Founded Date — 2003 (HQ, Carpinteria, CA)
- Founders — Craig Tooey Courtemanche
Funding traction, total raised ~$649M + private transactions
- Series A — 2014 at val. $1.9M, $0.10 pps
- Series B — 2014 at val. $9M, $0.26 pps
- Series D — 2014 at val . $65M, $0.96 pps
- Series E — 2015 at val. $200M, $2.49 pps
- Series F — 2015 at val. $500M, $5.09 pps
- Series G — 2016 at val. $1B, $9.31 pps
- Series H , H1–2019 at val. $3.2B, $26.75 pps
- Series I — 2019 at val. $4.7B , $37.87 pps
- Series I1–2020 at val. $5B, $37.87 pps
Procore to Postpone IPO, Raise Funds at $5 Billion Value (source)
Trading at $52 — $56 in the secondary market (Feb ‘21)
✅ Toast IPO (Forecast June 2021)
- Founded Date — 2011 (HQ, Greater Boston Area, New England)
- Founders — Aman Narang, Jonathan Grimm, Steve Fredette
Funding traction, total raised ~$902M + private transactions
- Series A — 2015 at val. $16M, $0.42 pps
- Series B — 2015 at val. $100M, $1.95 pps
- Series C — 2017 at val. $420M, $6.98 pps
- Series D — 2018 at val. $1.4B, $17.31 pps
- Series E — 2019 at val. $2.7B, $27.30 pps
- Series F — 2020 at val. $4.9B, $45.45 pps (source)
Restaurant-Software Provider Toast Prepares for IPO (source, source 2)
Compass IPO (Forecast June or July 2021)
- Founded Date — 2012 (HQ, NY, US)
- Founders — Ori Allon, Robert Reffkin, Ugo Di Girolamo
Funding traction, total raised ~$1.6B + private transactions
- Series A — 2013 at val. $150M, $10 pps
- Series B — 2014 at val. $370M, $20.77 pps
- Series C — 2015 at val. $800M, $40.50 pps
- Series D — 2016 at val. $1B, $42.63 pps
- Series E — 2017 at val. $1.8B, $67.48 pps
- Series E1–2018 at val. $2.2B, $67.48 pps
- Series F — 2018 at val. $4.4B, $118.57 pps
- Series G — 2019 at val. $6.4B, $154.27 pps (source)
Residential brokerage Compass files for IPO (source)
Outreach IPO (Forecast Q3 2022)
- Founded Date — 2014 (HQ, Greater Seattle Area, West Coast, Western US)
- Founders — Andrew Kinzer, Gordon Hempton, Manny Medina, Wes Hather
Funding traction, total raised ~$289M
- Series A — 2015 at val. $29M, $0.64 pps
- Series B — 2016 at val. $69M, $1.15 pps
- Series C — 2017 at val. $170M, $2.41 pps
- Series D — 2018 at val. $430M, $4.99 pps
- Series E — 2019 at val. $1.1B, $9.18 pps
After raising big round, Outreach CEO talks post-unicorn life, IPO plans, creating culture, and more (source)
Ginkgo Bioworks IPO (Forecast Q4 2021)
- Founded Date — 2008 (HQ, Boston, Massachusetts)
- Founders — Austin Che, Barry Canton, Jason Kelly, Reshma Shetty, Tom Knight
Funding traction, total raised ~$790M + private transactions
- Series A — 2015 at val. $140M, $12.83 pps
- Series B — 2015 at val. $200M, $12.83 pps
- Series C — 2016 at val. $450M, $21.23 pps
- Series D — 2017 at val. $1.3B, $47.41 pps
- Series E — 2019 at val. $4.4B, $150.19 pps
✅ Digital Ocean IPO (Forecast March 2021)
- Founded Date — 2012 (HQ, NY)
- Founders — Alec Hartman, Ben Uretsky, Jeff Carr, Mitch Wainer, Moisey Uretsky
Funding traction, total raised ~$456M + private transactions
- Series A — 2014 at val. $150M, $2.07 pps
- Series B — 2015 at val. $680M, $8.11 pps
- Series C — 2020 at val. $1.2B, $10.59 pps
The CEO told that “the IPO option for DigitalOcean is on the table,” going on to cite his company’s growth, growth rate, operating margins, “soon-to-be free cash flow margins” and scale as allowing the upstart “to have the conversation that this is a company that could go public.” (source)
✅ ThredUp IPO (Forecast April or May 2021)
- Founded Date — 2009(HQ, Oakland,CA)
- Founders — Chris Homer, Dan DeMeyere, James Reinhart, Oliver Lubin
Funding traction, total raised ~$306M + private transactions
- Series A — 2010 at val. $5.4M, $0.2 pps
- Series B — 2011 at val. $25.45M, $0.92 pps
- Series C — 2012 at val. $60M, $1.5 pps
- Series D — 2014 at val. $113M, $2.26 pps
- Series E — 2015 at val. $412M, $6.25 pps
- Series F — 2019 at val. $666M, $6.88 pps
ThredUp has confidentially filed to go public (source)
Grofers IPO (Forecast Q4 2021)
- Founded Date — 2013 (HQ, Gurgaon, Haryana, India)
- Founders — Albinder Dhindsa, Saurabh Kumar
Total raised ~$608M + secure transactions
Funding traction — n/a
Illumio IPO (Forecast Q4 2021 or Q1 2022)
- Founded Date — 2013 (HQ, Sunnyvale,CA)
- Founders — Andrew Rubin, PJ Kirner
Funding traction, total raised ~$332M + private transactions
- Series A — 2013 at val. $26M, $0.12 pps
- Series B — 2013 at val. $180M, $0.63 pps
- Series C — 2015 at val. $1.2B, $3.21 pps
- Series D — 2017 at val. $1.3B, $3.28 pps
- Series E — 2019 at val. $1.9B, $4.37 pps
Cybersecurity startup Illumio just raised $65 million and hired a CFO (source)
✅ Better IPO (Forecast Q3 2021)
- Founded Date — 2016 (HQ, NY, East Coast, US)
- Founders —Eric Wilson, Erik Bernhardsson, Shawn Low, Viral Shah, Vishal Garg
Funding traction, total raised ~$405M + private transactions
- Series A-A1 — 2013 at val. $200M, $1 pps
- Series B-B1–2017 at val. $220M, $2 pps
- Series C-C1–2019 at val. $868M, $3.23 pps
- Series D-D1–2020 at val. $4.51B, $16 pps
Better.com Working With Morgan Stanley, BofA on 2021 IPO (source)
NextDoor IPO (Forecast Q3 2021)
- Founded Date — 2010 (HQ, San Francisco, US)
- Founders —Adam Ginsburg, David Wiesen, Madison Bell, Nirav Tolia, Prakash Janakiraman, Sarah Leary
Funding traction, total raised ~$462M + private transactions
- Series A — 2008 at val. $18.54M, $0.5 pps
- Series B — 2011 at val. $30.57M, $0.6296 pps
- Series C — 2012 at val. $143.31M, $2.57 pps
- Series D — 2013 at val. $200M, $3.18 pps
- Series E — 2013 at val. $614M, $8.85 pps
- Series F — 2014 at val. $1.12B, $14.50 pps
- Series G — 2017 at val. $1.55B, $18.6 pps
- Series H — 2019 at val. $2.18B, $20.39 pps
Nextdoor may seek valuation of $4 billion-$5 billion in an IPO (source)
About the Author
Mr. Koch — is a serial entrepreneur and late-stage investor specializing in secondary shares.
Previously: Twilio, Xiaomi, iQiyi, Tilray, Livongo, Bandwidth, Agora, Hims
Currently: Robinhood, Grab, Toss, Coursera, Epic Games, Outreach, 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.
