6 IPOs To Watch In December: Airbnb, DoorDash And More

The 2020 IPO market could end with a big bang, with several high-profile names scheduled to offer shares during December.

Other companies have not confirmed dates, but could try to complete IPOs before the end of the year.

Affirm: Fintech company Affirm AFRM filed for an IPO that could occur before the end of 2020. The company was founded by Max Levchin, the co-founder of Paypal Holdings PYPL.

Affirm helps over 6,500 merchants and 6.2 million customers pay for goods online without a credit card.

The company had gross merchandise volume of $4.6 billion in fiscal 2020, which was up 77% year-over-year. In the first quarter of the current fiscal year, Affirm had revenue of $174 million, which was up 98% year-over-year.

The filing from Affirm did reveal that it receive 28% and 30% of its total revenue in fiscal 2020 and the first quarter of 2021, respectively, from its top merchant partner Peloton Interactive PTON.

In July, Affirm was rumored to be seeking a valuation of $10 billion and was considering the special purpose acquisition company route to market. The IPO terms have not yet been filed. 

Related Link: Ozon IPO: What Investors Should Know About The Amazon Of Russia

Airbnb: Vacation rental company Airbnb ABNB is set to IPO in December. The company is seeking to sell 51.9 million shares at a price point of $44 to $50. The company could be valued at up to $35 billion with its IPO.

Airbnb had 54 million active bookers and 247 million guest arrivals in 2019.

Gross booking revenue and company revenue were up 29% and 32%, respectively, year-over-year for 2019. Gross booking revenue and company revenue fell 39% and 32%, respectively, year-over-year for the first nine months of 2020.

Travel restrictions from COVID-19 hurt the company in early 2020. The filing shows a recovery in July, August and September, with nights booked down 28% year-over-year compared to triple digit declines in the earlier 2020 months.

C3.ai Inc: Enterprise artificial intelligence company C3.ai Inc AI plans on offering 15.5 million shares at a price point of $31 to $34. The IPO is scheduled for early December.

The company saw revenue grow 71% year-over-year to $157 million. Eighty-six percent of the company’s revenue came from subscriptions.

C3.ai has alliances with Microsoft Corporation MSFT, Amazon.com Inc AMZN, IBM IBM and Alphabet GOOG GOOGL.

The SaaS company said it projects a total addressable market of $271 billion by 2024.

In the filing, C3.ai said its main competition is do-it-yourself platforms and that it is unaware of any end-to-end enterprise AI companies in direct competition.

Partner Baker Hughes Company BKH, which helps C3.ai gain customers in the oil and gas industry, will own 12% of the company after the IPO.

DoorDash: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a spike in restaurant deliveries across the country. DoorDash DASH has been a benefactor of this trend, with order volume significantly higher.

In 2019, DoorDash had total transaction volume of $8 billion and 263 million orders placed. In the first nine months of 2020, DoorDash had 543 million orders placed, including 236 million in the third quarter.

Revenue for the company was $1.9 billion in the first nine months of 2020, which was up compared to the $587 million in the comparable period of the previous year. DoorDash's revenue was $885 million in fiscal 2019.

DoorDash holds the No. 1 market share position in the food delivery market with over 18 million customers. The company competes with Uber Eats, owned by Uber Technologies UBER; Grubhub Inc; and Postmates, which is merging with Uber Eats.

DoorDash has grown its market share from 17% in January 2018 to 50% in October 2020.

The company is planning on offering 33 million shares at a price point of $75 to $85.

Roblox: Mobile gaming company Roblox RBLX is planning on going public with an IPO that could occur before the end of 2020.

In the first nine months of 2020, Roblox had daily active users of 31.1 million, up 82% year-over-year. Revenue in the first nine months of 2020 was $588.7 million, up 68% year-over-year. Third-quarter revenue was up 91% year-over-year to $242 million.

Roblox had 22.2 billion hours of engagement in the first nine months of 2020, compared to 10 billion in the prior year period.

Roblox has been installed 447.8 million times since 2014, according to Sensor Tower.

Roblox announced in its filing it plans to launch its game in China in the future with partner and part owner Tencent Holding TCEHY, the world’s largest gaming company. The companies will have a joint venture, with Roblox owning a 51% stake.

Roblox is said to be seeking a valuation of around $8 billion according to Reuters, which would be double its February valuation.

Wish: Another company that could IPO before the end of 2020 is Wish WISH.

The China-based affordable goods company competes with the likes of Amazon.com AMZN. Nearly all of the company’s products are made in China, which led to supply chain issues in early 2020.

Revenue fell 8% in the first quarter of 2020 and then rose 67% and 33%, respectively, year-over-year for the second and third quarters.

The company is valued at $11.2 billion.

Photo courtesy of Airbnb.