UPDATED 21:40 EDT / MAY 16 2019

APPS

Fiverr is the latest money-losing startup to file to go public

Israeli-based freelancer marketplace Fiverr Inc. is the latest tech firm to announce it’s going public after filing its paperwork today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Founded in 2010, Fiverr offers a freelance market place that originally had all services priced at $5 but has since changed that business model. Described as a member of the gig economy alongside companies such as Airtasker Inc., Fiverr freelancers primarily offer digital services.

Coming into its IPO, Fiverr said it has facilitated more than 50 million transactions among more than 5.5 million buyers and more than 830,000 sellers to date. But like most tech startups before it, the company is yet to make a profit.

Fiverr said it booked a loss of $36.1 million in 2018 compared to $19.3 million in 2017 while revenue grew from $52.1 million to $75.5 million over the same period. Looking forward, the company say that it is likely to continue to lose money for the foreseeable future.

Cash at hand was reported to be $34.6 million, possibly motivating Fiverr to go public now so it can raise more money to keep it afloat, that despite having already raised $111 million to date. Investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, Accel, Square Peg Capital, Qumra Capital and Lightbank.

“Our mission is to change how the world works together,” Fiverr said in the filing. “We started with the simple idea that people should be able to buy and sell digital services in the same fashion as physical goods on an e-commerce platform. On that basis, we set out to design a digital marketplace that is built with a comprehensive SKU-like services catalog and an efficient search, find and order process that mirrors a typical e-commerce transaction.”

A valuation on the float was not stated, but Bloomberg reported in February that a figure of around $800 million could be in the ballpark, so Fiverr falls short of unicorn status.

Fiverr’s float comes at a difficult time for tech stocks following the falling stocks of both Lyft Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. after their debut on the public markets.

They are different types of companies, though, with Fiverr being difficult to compare to previous offerings. Some of its competitors along the way have been acquired including TaskRabbit and Angie’s List.

Fiverr will likely debut on the New York Stock Exchange sometime in June or early July.

Image: Fiverr

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