An initial public offering (IPO) by Ibotta, a digital promotion company backed by Walmart and others, could more than double the company's valuation compared to its level after a 2019 funding round.
Ibotta originally filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 22, shortly after the successful IPOs of Astera Labs and Reddit, but the company only disclosed details on Monday. The amended S-1 shows the company will release more than 5.6 million shares at prices ranging from $76 to $84. Most of the money came from current shareholders, with some of the Ibotta shares valued at only 2.5 million yen.
These approximately 5.6 million shares represent almost 21% of the total shares. With 27,221,509 shares outstanding, setting the price range at the high end would value Ibotta at approximately $2.28 billion, with the IPO potentially raising up to $472.5 million. .
Walmart owns 2.7 million shares, but its largest venture partner is Koch Disruptive Technologies, the investment arm of Koch Holdings, with about 4.8 million shares. KDT led Ibotta's 2019 Series D funding round, which valued the company at around $1 billion at the time.
As for who will control Ibotta, two of the three major VC firms, Wal-Mart and Clark Jarmolk Founders Fund, have said they are not selling their shares, and Koch Industries currently holds 20% of the voting rights. They will only be giving up just under 5% of that. Mr. Leach is selling only 531,000 of his 4.26 million shares, meaning he will maintain nearly 70% control.
The Denver-based company, which trades on the NYSE under the IBTA, was profitable last year with $320 million in revenue. In a letter accompanying the application, CEO Brian Leach described how Ibotta started just 12 years ago “in the windowless basement of an old fire station in downtown Denver.”
“Our capital-light business has enabled us to grow rapidly, becoming more profitable over time and benefiting from a multidimensional network,” he added.
Ibotta's platform allows consumer brands to sell promotions and rebates. Some of the 2,400 brands using Ibotta include Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Campbell Soup, Kraft Heinz and General Mills. The company partnered with Walmart in 2021 to showcase digital promotions.
“fact [Ibotta] As for Walmart, it's becoming more of an enterprise software business, and it's basically the back end of Walmart's cash rewards program, which gives it more credibility.'' Pre-IPO research and analysis said Nicholas Smith, an analyst at Renaissance Capital. He recently told TechCrunch that he manages two IPO-focused ETFs.
