Fortune - USA (2019-06)

(Antfer) #1

FACEBOOK


$16.0 BILLION


TWITTER


$2.1 B.


2012 2013 2014 2015


LENDINGCLUB


WORKDAY


GOPRO


ZAYO


FIREEYE


TABLEAU


PURE STORAGE FITBIT


EIGHT YEARS


OF TECH IPOs

IPO VALUE:


$5 BILLION


$1


BILLION


$500 MILLION


$250 M. $100 M.


0


200


400


$600 million

AVERAGE


AMOUNT RAISED


$669.8 M. $212.1 M. $177.6 M. $194.6 M.


ANNUAL TOTAL RAISED:


$20.1 BILLION


$6.1 BILLION $5.9 BILLION $3.1 BILLION


ETSY


SQUARE


42


FORTUNE.COM // JUNE.1.19


WELCOME TO THE YEAR of the giant tech
IPO. A cavalcade of so-called unicorns,
privately held companies valued at $1 bil-
lion or more, is galloping toward supersize
initial public offerings. Uber alone raised
$8.1 billion in its May debut. The 10-year-
old company is so big that it would have
ranked No. 280 on this year’s Fortune 500,
based on revenue, if it had released its
financials earlier.
Ride-hailing app Lyft and online bul-
letin board Pinterest are just some of
the other boldface names that have also
held huge stock offerings. Meanwhile,
workplace-messaging service Slack filed
for a direct listing, bypassing the cumber-

All signs point to a record-breaking year for U.S. tech IPOs,
as hot companies like Uber, Lyft, and Pinterest cash in.
By Robert Hackett

TECH’S UNICORNS


FE AST AT


THE IPO TROUGH


A wave of high-profile tech IPOs by the likes of Uber, Lyft,
and Pinterest is making this a standout year. On average,
individual tech companies are raising far more in 2019
than in any of the previous seven years.

SOURCES: S&P GLOBAL; CB INSIGHTS

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