(Bloomberg) — Cloud-data software maker Snowflake Inc. priced its initial public offering at $120 a share, above the marketed range, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified.
The San Mateo, California-based company had planned to sell 28 million shares for $100 to $110 each, a range that was boosted from $75 to $85 on Monday, according to Snowflake’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
At $120 a share, the listing ranks as the biggest U.S. IPO this year, excluding the $4 billion offering by the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, backed by billionaire Bill Ackman.
At that price, Snowflake would be valued in the listing at more than $33 billion based on the outstanding shares listed in its prospectus, including the 28 million that were planned for Tuesday’s share sale. That compares with a valuation of $12.4 billion in a private funding round announced in February.
A representative for Snowflake declined to comment.
It’s a busy week for IPOs as technology and other companies rush to get in the door ahead of the Nov. 3 U.S. presidential election. JFrog Inc., Sumo Logic Inc. and Unity Software Inc. are among 15 companies going public this week, seeking to raise a combined $8.3 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Snowflake lured Warren Buffett to invest in his first-ever IPO. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Salesforce Ventures, an arm of Salesforce.com Inc., have each committed to buy $250 million of the company’s Class A common stock in a private placement. Berkshire has also agreed to buy 4 million shares in a secondary transaction, according to Snowflake’s filing.
Snowflake, founded in 2012, is a rare challenger to Amazon.com Inc. as a provider of data warehouse technology, which compiles information from different systems so clients can analyze it together in the same place. In the fiscal year that ended Jan. 31, Snowflake’s revenue soared 174% to $264.7 million compared with the previous fiscal year, the company reported. In the sixth months that ended July 31, sales were $242 million, a 133% year-over-year increase.
The offering is being led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley. Snowflake’s shares are expected to begin trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SNOW.
(Updates with Berkshire investment in seventh paragraph)
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com” data-reactid=”33″>For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com
<p class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)–sm Mt(0.8em)–sm" type="text" content="Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.” data-reactid=”34″>Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Add Comment