Two unicorns – PagerDuty and Jumia – are attracting attention this week, when all four deals on the IPO Calendar are New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) listings. PagerDuty is a big name in digital operations management, while Jumia is often described as “the Alibaba of Africa.” Each company has a market valuation topping $1 billion. (A unicorn is a privately held company with a valuation of $1 billion or more.)
It’s no coincidence that the NYSE, also known as the Big Board, is in the limelight. The NYSE has lowered its IPO listing requirements over the years and stepped up its recruitment of companies in the IPO process. The gray beards of Wall Street remember, of course, the days when this was not the case. Once upon a time, the NYSE’s listings requirements were so stiff that many could not meet them. During the Internet bubble of the late ‘90s, the IPO Calendar typically included 20 deals – and as many as 16 to 17 of those IPOs were NASDAQ listings. Most were technology companies.
The game has changed. And the players have changed, too. Back in the Internet bubble of the late ‘90s, about 90 to 100 underwriters played the IPO game. Now it’s only a handful.
For a fun read, check out The Wall Street Journal story on the intense competition between the NYSE and the NASDAQ for listings.
Circle Wednesday and Thursday
Looking ahead, most of the action will take place Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Three IPOs – PagerDuty, Jumia and Tufin Software Technologies Ltd. – are set for pricing Wednesday night, April 10th, to start trading Thursday morning, April 11th, on the NYSE.
This week’s remaining deal is not an IPO. It’s a unit offering by B. Riley Principal Merger (BRPM.U proposed). This is a blank check company, based in New York. The B. Riley deal is set for pricing Monday night, April 8th, to start trading Tuesday morning, April 9th, on the NYSE. (IPOScoop does not include unit offerings in its cumulative total of IPOs.)
Bankers aim to raise $602.25 million this week. Let’s take a look at this week’s three IPOs.
Fixing Tech Glitches Fast
PagerDuty (PD proposed), based in San Francisco, is a cloud software platform and one of the few Silicon Valley companies with a female CEO. PagerDuty’s products help companies and organizations manage their digital operations across any software-enabled system or device – with a focus on fixing problems ASAP.
Translation, thanks to Talib Visram of Inc.: “If Netflix crashes during your Stranger Things binge, the company helping to get your streaming back on track is PagerDuty … “
PagerDuty plans to offer 9.1 million shares at $19 to $21 each on Wednesday night, April 10th, to start trading Thursday morning, April 11th, on the NYSE.
Where Africa Shops Online
Jumia (JMIA proposed) calls itself the leading pan-African e-commerce platform. It’s “the Alibaba of Africa,” the financial press says, and for good reason: Jumia connects online sellers with buyers, particularly in the electronics and fashion sectors of retail, while its logistics service handles the shipment and delivery of packages, and its payment service handles the transactions.
From the prospectus: Jumia is active in 14 countries in six regions of Africa that account for 72 percent of Africa’s GDP and 74 percent of its consumer spending, according to IMF and Euromonitor data, respectively.
Jumia plans to offer 13.5 million American Depositary Shares (ADS) at $13 to $16 each on Wednesday night, April 10th, to start trading Thursday morning, April 11th, on the NYSE.
IT Security from Israel
Tufin Software Technologies Ltd. (TUFN proposed), based in Israel, is a cybersecurity specialist firm that lets its corporate and government customers “reduce the time to implement complex network changes from days to minutes.”
The company says it has served over 2,000 customers in more than 70 countries, including AT&T, Coca-Cola and Verizon.
Tufin plans to offer 7.7 million shares at $12 to $14 each on Wednesday night, April 10th, to trade Thursday morning, April 11th, on the NYSE.
(For more information on these companies, please check the profiles on the website of IPOScoop.com.)
Week of April 15th
For the week of April 15th, there’s just one deal, Brainsway Ltd. (BWAY proposed), and it’s a public offering – not an IPO. But more names could slide onto the IPO Calendar when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s filing window opens again for business on Monday morning.
Stay tuned.
Disclosure: Neither the author nor anyone else on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned, nor do we trade or invest in IPOs. The author and IPOScoop.com staff do not issue advice, recommendations or opinion.