Smartsheet files for IPO

Smartsheet is the latest company to file to go public, now that the IPO window is open. 

The Bellevue, Washington-based company offers enterprise software for communication and collaboration.

It describes itself as the “leading cloud-based platform for work execution, enabling teams and organizations to plan, capture, manage, automate, and report on work at scale, resulting in more efficient processes and better business outcomes. ”

Smartsheet says it has 3.6 million users and its products are utilized at 90% of the Fortune 100 companies around the world.

It touts clients like Cisco and Starbucks. Smartsheet says Cisco uses it to keep tabs on spending and Starbucks uses it send product and business updates to its thousands of stores.

The company brought in $111.3 million in revenue for its fiscal 2018 year. It’s a big jump from $67 million for 2017 and $40.8 million for 2016.

But losses are also growing, totaling $49.1 million for 2018, up from negative $15.2 million and $14.3 million in prior years.

“We have a history of cumulative losses and we cannot assure you that we will achieve profitability in the foreseeable future,” the company warned in its prospectus.

Smartsheet acknowledges that it competes with Microsoft and Google on spreadsheets and other productivity tools. Its products also compete with Asana, Atlassian, Planview and Workfront.

“The market in which we participate is highly competitive, and if we do not compete effectively, our operating results could be harmed,” reads the “risk factors” section of the filing.

The largest shareholder is Insight Venture Partners, which owned a sizeable 32.1% of the company prior to the IPO. Madrona Ventures owned 28.4% of the company and Sutter Hill Ventures owned 5.4%.

Smartsheet had raised at least $106 million in venture funding, dating back to 2010, according to Crunchbase data. Last year, TechCrunch reported that it had an $800 million valuation.

The company plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange, under the ticker “SMAR.”

Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan are managing the offering. Fenwick & West and Wilson Sonsini served as counsel.

The floodgates have opened for enterprise tech IPOs. Last week we saw Dropbox debut and now we’ve seen filings for Zuora and Pivotal. DocuSign is also expected to file in the coming months.

Many of last year’s enterprise tech IPOs performed well, giving pipeline companies confidence in their debuts.

Spring also tends to be an active time for IPOs, with companies looking to debut before the summer slowdown.

And while consumer tech IPOs have been slow for several years now, one of the more anticipated companies looking to debut is Spotify, which is expected to go public next week via a “direct listing.”

 

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