Although Snapchat -- which has recently shortened its name to just Snap Inc. -- gets all the attention, it won’t be the only tech IPO in 2017. A number of other technology companies are planning to get in on the action.
Snap will likely be the biggest, with the company looking to go public at a valuation of approximately $25 billion. Some analysts think that’s too aggressive, but the company should benefit from being the first superstar tech IPO in some time. It should also attract attention from millennial investors who are active users.
In fact, there were only 15 venture-backed tech companies that went public in 2016, the lowest number since 2008. Some predict that that number could double or even triple in 2017 as tech companies take advantage of good markets and demand for new offerings.
Many of the planned tech IPOs of 2017 won’t feature household names. They include companies like Apttus, Tintri, and Okta, software companies that get paid through monthly or yearly subscription fees. Investors tend to value recurring revenue streams highly, which could lead to some aggressive IPO action.
These companies are much smaller than Snap, with expected valuations to be somewhere between $1 billion and $4 billion.
At this point it looks unlikely that Uber or Airbnb will join Snap in the IPO market in 2017. Both companies are flush with venture capital cash and Uber has recently reported losing more than $800 million on $1.7 billion in revenue. Both companies will very likely end up publicly traded, but probably not in 2017.
