IPO
HubSpot, a provider of online marketing software to SMEs, raised $125 million in its IPO. After originally declaring that it would be pricing its stock in the $19-$21 range, it ended up selling 5 million shares at $25. HubSpot is trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the HUBS ticker symbol, and had reportedly been working with Morgan Stanley as far back as February to carry out the process. The company’s backers include Google Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Charles River Ventures, and General Catalyst Partners, among others. The cash infusion comes at a critical time for the eight-year old Boston-based company, as it is reportedly operating at a $17.7 million net loss for the year. It is a present reality that has done little to discourage investors. Hubspot shares began trading Thursday at $33 dollars, giving the company a $900 million valuation.
Social Finance, Inc., a peer-to-peer loan platform that will facilitate over $1 billion in student loan refinancing this year, announced that it hopes to raise as much as $250 million in its IPO. More commonly known as SoFi, the company was founded by students at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business in 2011, and has raised over $560 million in debt and venture financing from backers that include Peter Thiel, CT-based hedge fund Discovery Capital Management, and the Chinese Internet company Renren, Inc.. The announcement comes as Lending Club, the market leader in peer-to-peer lending, closes in on its own IPO.
The Malaysian online payments company MOL Global Inc. raised $169 million after selling 13.5 million shares at $12.50 apiece. The price was at the low end of its expected range, and the number of shares sold was likewise lower than the the 19.46 million it originally intended to sell. MOL Global, which is trading on the Nasdaq, is the first Malaysian company to make its debut on a major American stock exchange in over ten years.
M&A
Boku, a San Francisco-based startup that allows users to make payments through their mobile phones, will merge with its German counterpart Mopay in a deal that will combine the two largest providers of carrier billing companies in the market. Boku had previously bought Qubecell to expand its international presence, where carrier-based payments currently have more traction than they do in the United States. The company has raised $75 million since 2009 from backers like Andreessen Horowitz, Benchmark Capital, and Khosla Ventures, among others.