Venture Backed IPO's im Kommen

"We think the traditional enterprise software model is fundamentally flawed," said SolarWinds President Kevin Thompson. "We think it has left the IT user completely out of the equation, which is why their models don't allow you to have scale and margin."

Such bold words are the kind of thing venture capitalists like to hear, especially when backed up by numbers. SolarWinds has been profitable every year since its inception. Net income rose 44% and revenue 18% in the tough Q1.

Downturns have a way of separating the real entrepreneurs from the tourists, says Mark Heeson, president of the National Venture Capital Association.

"A lot of venture capitalists will tell you this is a very good time to be investing," said Heeson. "The entrepreneurs who are left standing at this point 18e true entrepreneurs -- they have fire in their belly, they have good ideas, they have good business sense."

Still, Heeson says it's too early to expect a new wave of VC-backed IPOs. There's been no perceptible uptick in filings, and venture capital plunged 61% in Q1. With the average IPO taking about a year to get through the system, that could slow the market for some time. Rating :
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Revenue soared 36% to $55.8 million last year. The company's margins haven't been as noteworthy, though OpenTable has squeezed out a pre-tax profit in each of the past three years.

Ultimately, this is just another reason for investors to begin warming up to the IPO pipeline. Look at what else we've seen this year:

2009 IPOs
IPO
5/20/09
Change

Mead-Johnson (NYSE: MJN)
$24.00
$28.58
19%

Changyou.com (Nasdaq: CYOU)
$16.00
$29.42
84%

Bridgepoint Education (NYSE: BPI)
$10.50
$10.11
(4%)

Rosetta Stone (NYSE: RST)
$18.00
$25.00
39%

DigitalGlobal (NYSE: DGI)
$19.00
$18.10
(5%)

SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI)
$12.50
$13.75
10%

Open Table
$20.00
n/a
 

Most of the 2009 debutantes are trading comfortably ahead of their original price tags. Online educator Bridgepoint Education was soaring this morning, so last week's DigitalGlobal IPO is the only one underwater at this point.

As for OpenTable, just the act of going public this morning is beneficial. Fence-sitting restaurants will now know that they are dealing with a financially viable company, and one has to imagine that traffic to OpenTable.com will surge this week as the company finds itself in the news.

So, well done on the IPO, OpenTable. Now let's hope that there's also an after-dinner mint waiting.

Some ABCs on IPOs:

Neue Zuversicht am IPO-Markt
von Christian Schnell
Eine Reihe erfolgreicher Börsengänge (IPO) in den USA und in China könnten auch den deutschen IPO-Markt wiederbeleben.

FRANKFURT. "Der Markt für Börsengänge ist in den USA wieder offen, in Europa stoßen gerade die ersten Sprossen durch den Schnee", sagt Klaus Fröhlich, Leiter des Kapitalmarktgeschäfts für Deutschland und Österreich bei Morgan Stanley. Sowohl von Unternehmens- als auch von Investorenseite gibt es wieder ernst zu nehmende Gespräche, nachdem der Markt seit dem Emission des Solar-Zulieferers SMA Solar vor knapp einem Jahr völlig darnieder liegt.

Grund für die neue Zuversicht ist die überraschende Nachfrage nach dem ersten großen Börsengang in diesem Jahr in Europa. Am Mittwoch plant mit Max Property ausgerechnet eine Immobilien-Konzern die Erstnotiz an der Londoner Börse. Umgerechnet bis zu 250 Mio. Euro könnte die Emission einbringen. Deswegen loten seit kurzem auch hierzulande Unternehmen ihre Chancen am Aktienmarkt aus. Stets unter der Voraussetzung, dass die Märkte sich weiter so stabil zeigen wie zuletzt.

Als potenzieller Kandidat gilt Schott Solar. Das Mainzer Unternehmen hatte als bislang letztes Unternehmen im Herbst den Börsengang wegen des katastrophalen Umfelds auf Eis gelegt. "Wir haben den Börsengang nie abgesagt und wären im richtigen Umfeld wieder startbereit", sagte Sprecher Lars Waldmann gestern auf Nachfrage. Allerdings sieht er noch nicht den tragfähigen Boden, von dem aus man wieder starten könnte.

Deswegen wird es wohl noch dauern, ehe die erste Emission ansteht. "In Deutschland könnte es nach der Sommerpause in drei bis vier Monaten wieder den ersten Börsengang geben", sagt Johannes Borsche von Morgan Stanley

Will OpenTable Spark An Internet-IPO Resurgence?
By Rory Maher - Fri 22 May 2009 01:06 PM PST

The OpenTable (NSDQ: OPEN) IPO, the first venture-backed public offering since August, popped an impressive 60 percent on the first day of trading. We’ll find out over the next year if it’s the beginning of the end of the internet IPO drought (to be precise, there’s been a dearth of IPOs in general). Question is: If the market does open up again, which companies are good candidates to go public?

In a New York Times article in February, venture capitalist Alan Patricof said most startups now need to reach about $250 million in value before going public (he reiterated that in a conversation with me a few days ago). So we scanned different sources, from media outlets to analyst reports, to find companies with valuations above $250 million, and that aren’t overly dependent on advertising (because of the state of that revenue source). After the jump are four candidates that have emerged…

—Facebook: Valuations ranging from a few billion to many billions and revenue from virtual goods (in excess of $100 million by some estimates) as well as advertising. Even if the company is losing a lot of money, as many speculate, the internet darling would likely be well received by public investors.
—The Ladders: Valued in the hundreds of millions, and has a subscription-driven revenue stream. In addition, the job placement site is operating at a time when there have never been more people looking for jobs.
—Linden Labs: Some value the virtual-world company at over $1 billion, and the company estimates users will make $450 million in virtual transactions this year.
—Habbo: Virtual-world company for teens that has also been valued in the hundreds of millions and made about $75 million in revenue last year from virtual goods and advertising.

What others are we missing?

Photo Credit: Flickr/davidcrow

Habbo Sold $60 Million In Virtual Goods In 2008
Facebook Raising $150M For Staffers’ Stock Buy Back

A Fool Looks Back
By Rick Aristotle Munarriz
May 23, 2009 | Comments (0)

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  You know that the market is hopping when we get not just one, but two IPOs during the same week. SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI) and OpenTable (Nasdaq: OPEN) went public on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

Each deal priced above its initial pricing range, and still headed higher. In fact, OpenTable's 59% pop on Thursday is the strongest first-day gain on an IPO since 2007.

It's still a pretty rare sight these days to find two companies making their Wall Street debuts during the same week. It was a pretty scary drought when the bear was growling a few months ago. There wasn't a single IPO during the months of December and January.

As long as the market appears stable, this year's trickle of mostly successful IPOs may eventually turn into a gusher. Underwriters can certainly use the business. Investors shouldn't mind the wider selection of available investments

zu SPIEGEL WISSEN Dem Angebot zufolge hätte der US-Konzern einen Gesamtwert von zehn Milliarden Dollar. Facebook erklärte am Freitag, es werde sich zu Marktgerüchten und seinen finanziellen Plänen nicht äußern. Facebook-Chef Mark Zuckerberg hat sich aber in dieser Woche offen für Angebote potentieller Investoren gezeigt. Dadurch könne das Internet-Netzwerk seinen Handlungsspielraum ausbauen, sagte er beim Reuters-Technologiegipfel.


Facebook, das 2004 vom Harvard-Student Zuckerberg gegründet wurde und mittlerweile mehr als 200 Millionen aktive Nutzer hat, erhielt letztmals 2007 eine Finanzspritze, als der Software-Riese Microsoft  mit 1,6 Prozent bei der Internet-Plattform einstieg.

Bei Facebook können Nutzer persönliche Seiten anlegen und miteinander kommunizieren. Das Netzwerk wächst schnell und sucht nach frischem Geld - unter anderem um das explodierende Datenvolumen besser bewältigen zu können. Der Konzern rechnet laut Medienberichten für dieses Jahr mit einem Umsatz von 400 bis 550 Millionen Dollar. Über die Gewinnlage ist nichts bekannt.

sam/Reuters/dpa

Capital neben dem Verkauf an andere Unternehmen ist wieder offen:

money.cnn.com/2009/05/22/technology/tech_ipos/index.htm

DST’s own shareholders include Arsenal football club shareholder Alisher Usmanov, Renaissance Partners, Tiger Global and Goldman Sachs, plus partners Miler, London-based Alexander Tamas and ex hedge fund boss Gregory Finger. Usmanov bumped his stake up by another two percent to 32 percent this week. Russia’s internet audience is Europe’s fourth largest, behind Germany, the UK and France, April figures from comScore said Wednesday.

Related: Interview: Facebook Investor Tamas: ‘People Are Obsessed With IPOs’ Updated: Facebook Gets $200 Million Investment From Digital Sky; Zuckerberg Calls It “A Cushion” Arsenal Oligarch Usmanov Looks For Yandex Investment



© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

In diesem Jahr wurden bereits Unternehmensanleihen im Gesamtwert von 268 Milliarden Dollar gekauft - so viel wie seit 1995 nicht mehr. Sogar riskante Anleihe erleben einen Boom, der die Analysten staunen macht und Hoffnungen schürt, auch der stagnierende IPO-Markt könnte wieder aufleben.

"So was war noch die da", sagt Emmanuel Gueroult, Head of European Equity Markets bei Morgan Stanley in London. "Wir sind alle überrascht, wie schnell sich der Markt erholt hat."