Yahoo Finance With Twitter now public, who’s next?
The ink is barely dry on Twitter’s IPO, and already the speculation has begun over who’s next, and what could happen when they pull the trigger.
Twitter’s offering was seen as a litmus test for social media companies. Investors still smarting from Facebook’s nosedive after its May 2012 IPO were looking to Twitter to validate whether or not social media companies could be taken seriously as long-term investments, and whether they had what it takes to convert huge audiences and traffic numbers into sustainable advertising-driven revenue streams.
With Facebook now recovered and Twitter also off to a relatively solid start, investors are actively looking for the next big tech IPO. They don’t need to look too far:
Originally called Air Bed & Breakfast, this company lets virtually anyone rent out any space – office, room, apartment, house – to anyone else. Property hosts are rated by clients, which theoretically keeps everyone honest. It now lists over 500,000 properties at any one time, and has served over 8 million clients since it was founded in 2008.
Airbnb received a public relations black eye in 2011 when one of its hosts had her apartment trashed by a rogue renter. The company has since tightened its policies, including Verified Identification and a US$1 million Host Guarantee, and continues to register triple-digit growth.
This cloud-based storage and file management company competes against some of the biggest players in the industry, including Google and Apple, yet has still managed to build an 8-million-strong user base amid successive rounds of funding.
The company confirmed this week that it’s seeking an additional $100 million in funding in a round that could value the company at upwards of $2 billion.
This company’s solutions extend beyond simple note-taking, and allow users to capture photos and audio, integrate to-do lists and grab clips of web pages from any PC or mobile device, then sync everything online. Integrated image recognition turns scribbled notes and scanned content into searchable text.
Founded in 2004, Evernote’s freemium model lets users try before they buy, with 1 milllion of its 25 million users paying for the upgraded version. Although the company’s valuation hit $1 billion this year, CEO Phil Libin has sent mixed messages on IPO timing, hinting he might wait until 2015. Continued revenue growth could force him to accelerate his timeline.
The deceptively simple social media service allows users to “pin” photos and links online, allowing them to create easily-shared pinboards of their favourite stuff. Founded in 2009, the company has experienced rapid growth – it reportedly hit 70 million users in July – and completed a $225 million round of funding last month that values the company at $3.8 billion.
While the social media service’s business model based on self-destructing messages has been criticized for being difficult to monetize, it has proved wildly popular with the all-important teenaged demographic -- so popular, Facebook offered to purchase the company for $3 billion. Founder Evan Spiegel said in September they’re now sending 350 million messages daily, and a few months after closing a $60 million round of funding, the company is looking for more, with a target valuation of $3.6 billion.
Its recent launch of Snapchat Stories is a sign the company wants to be more than a one-hit-wonder. While a 2014 IPO isn’t likely, its ability to attract young users who avoid Facebook and Twitter could find itself on someone else’s acquisition target list.
This mobile payments pioneer lets customers pay with their smartphones and gets businesses on the e-wallet fast track with smartphone-attached card readers and apps. The user-generated data also fuels a powerful location-based service (LBS) that lets customers and business owners learn more about the nearby commercial landscape.
It followed up its first major win – becoming the exclusive credit and debit card payment processor for Starbucks – with an expansion into Japan and is now valued at $3.25 billion. The Wall Street Journal earlier this month reported founder and CEO – and Twitter co-founder – Jack Dorsey is aiming to take the company public in 2014.
Whoever becomes the next tech darling to go public, investors will have more choice then ever as they size up the next wannabe-big thing.
Carmi Levy is a London, Ont.-based independent technology analyst and journalist. The opinions expressed are his own. carmilevy@yahoo.ca
