The Fiverr IPO is Coming to the Stock Markets and the Investors are Excited!

If you are a freelancer, then you have definitely heard of Fiverr which is an online marketplace matching freelancers with potential employers. The marketplace is mostly confined to creative projects, such as graphic designing, voice-overs, translations and illustrations, to name just a few.

Fiverr is a start-up based in Israel, and its shares are now traded on the NY Stock Exchange. The company will be going public under the sticker FVRR. Who is leading the IPO? Fiverr remains in good hands, with JPMorgan and Citigroup leading the initial public offer.

$800 Million valuation

In 2015, the startup was worth only $262 million, but Bloomberg reported that in the initial public offering, the company sought $800 million in it’s valuation. But 4 years is a pretty long time when it comes to the freelancing world, and it would not be a crazy assumption for the startup evaluation to be worth $6 million more, compared to its 2015 value. Apart from Bessemer Venture, Accel backed the startup, and they managed to have a seed round. It was reported by PitchBook that Fiverr raised over $110 million since it was founded.

Being a freelance marketplace, the company seeks to make money by offering their services as its product. Employers or clients remunerate their employees or freelancers through Fiverr, with the platform taking a certain portion of the paid amount as contract fees. Additionally, they also earn transaction fees when it’s users move their funds through their site. The company generates much revenue, but has unfortunately incurred losses in the last two years. In their filing, they revealed raising $75.5 million in revenue in 2018, which was a clear 44.9% improvement from 2017 when revenue was about $52 million. However, the year where they showed more profit, they also lost $36 million compared to the $19 million lost in 2017. No wonder their desire to go public.

Tech deals worth big bucks

2019 is turning out to be a great year in the US because of tech deals worth billions of dollars. Companies from Israeli, of late, have shown enhanced interest in the country’s markets. Tufin, a cyber-security company has just started trading last month, and it is reported that Payoneer may be thinking of a possible listing. Other reports reveal that Zerto could be well be listed at the NY Stock Exchange, but let’s wait and see how these moves play out. This year could not be any better for investors. Without any doubt, many people have invested in these companies, and going public translate to hefty earnings for them, without even taking into account how these IPOs perform. Take the case of Uber, for example. Although the IPO didn’t actually go as planned, it ensured for its founders and early investors, a lot of money. The company’s celeb investors like Ashton Kutcher and Jay-Z are not at all complaining, although the IPO fell far short of the $120 billion valuation.

And should you feel that $120 billion was a gross exaggeration on the banks’ part, how do you explain the $80 billion valuation just prior to the company going public at NYSE? The IPO helped get $8 billion, but honestly, it wasn’t as bad as it sounded. Having a company worth billions is no small feat! Just wait and watch…