Walmart-Backed Ibotta Files for IPO Showing Profit
(Bloomberg) -- Digital marketing software firm Ibotta Inc. filed for an initial public offering on the heels of this week’s successful debuts by Reddit Inc. and Astera Labs Inc.
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The Denver-based company, which helps brands to deliver mobile promotions through rewards and rebates, said in a filing Friday that it turned a profit last year, reversing earlier losses. Ibotta, whose investors include Walmart Inc., will disclose proposed terms for its IPO in a later filing.
Bloomberg News reported in November that Ibotta was working with advisers and could seek to be valued in a listing at $2 billion or more.
The filing follows offerings by social media platform Reddit and semiconductor connectivity company Astera, which met or exceeded their IPO goals, respectively, and then delivered gains in their trading debuts.
So far this year, 44 companies have raised $9.1 billion via IPOs on US exchanges, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with about $3.5 billion raised by 36 companies at this point last year, the data show.
Ibotta handles promotions for more than 2,400 brands, such as Coca-Cola, Whirlpool and Hallmark, according to its filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The company had net income of $38 million on revenue of $320 million for last year, compared with a net loss of $55 million on revenue of $211 million the previous year, according to the filing.
In 2019, Ibotta was valued at $1 billion in a Series D funding round led by Koch Disruptive Technologies, an investment arm of Koch Industries Inc., according to data provider PitchBook.
Koch entities remain one of Ibotta’s largest investors, with about 21% of the company’s Class A shares before the offering, according to the filing. The Clark Jermoluk Founders Fund 1 LLC owns 25% of the Class A shares. Walmart, which has the right to buy more than 3.5 million shares, is also listed among stockholders with a 5% or greater stake.
Ibotta founder and Chief Executive Officer Bryan Leach owns all of the company’s Class B shares, which gives him almost 79% of the voting power before the offering.
Digital promotions now make up the majority of consumer promotions, with 87% of consumers’ grocery purchases being influenced by offers, discounts, and promotions, Leach said in a letter to investors included in the filing.
“The Ibotta experiment began 12 years ago in the windowless basement of an old fire station in downtown Denver,” Leach said. “So far, we have given approximately $1.8 billion in cash back to US consumers on their everyday purchases.”
Ibotta’s board includes as a member Larry Sonsini, whose law firm, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, is advising the company. Sonsini owns about 1.3% of the company’s Class A shares currently.
The offering is being led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. Ibotta plans for its shares to trade on the the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol IBTA.
--With assistance from Ryan Gould.
(Removes reference to other investors in article published March 22 after correction of data provided by PitchBook. The name of Koch Disruptive Technologies was corrected in an earlier version of this story.)
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