Smart speaker and audio tech maker Sonos Inc. has confidentially filed for an initial public offering that could see it float as soon as summer, according to a report published today by the Wall Street Journal.

The report, citing people familiar with the process, said Sonos is seeking to raise funds on a valuation of $2.5 billion to $3 billion and has engaged Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to lead the offering.

While far better-known for its upmarket audio products such as wireless speakers, the 16-year-old Santa Barbara, California-based company dealt itself into the emerging “internet of things” smart home speaker market last year with the launch of the Sonos One.

Pitched as a smart speaker for audiophiles, the Sonos One is powered by Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa technology under the hood But it offers support for a wide variety of services to compete with the likes of Amazon’s Echo lineup, Apple Inc.’s HomePod and Google LLC’s Home, including 49 different music services, giving users a clear choice over speakers locked into their maker’s own services.

Although Sonos hasn’t bet the farm on its smart home speaker, the emerging market for the products is expected to be worth at least $50 billion in 2022. Amazon, Google and Apple get all the headlines now, but none could be described as offering a truly superior audio performance, which is where Sonos has the potential to become a major player, particularly given its already loyal base of audiophiles.

It’s hard to place Sonos against other tech IPOs because it’s very much a hybrid company that has more in common with Apple’s Beats Music division. But its decision to go public adds further momentum to what Aaron Levie, chief executive officer of Box Inc. has described as a “real wave of IPOs.”

Pivotal Software Inc. was the last tech firm to go public, raising $497 million April 20, with DocuSign Inc. and SmartSheets Inc. set to list on the New York Stock Exchange Friday.

Coming into its IPO, Sonos had raised $455 million from investors, including Index Ventures, Redpoint, e.ventures, KKR & Co., Greenspring Associates and Elevation Partners.

Image: Sonos