VTex, a UK-headquartered e-commerce services provider backed by internet and telecommunications conglomerate SoftBank, went public in a $361m initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) yesterday.
The initial public offering included nearly 13.9 million class A shares priced at $19 each, above the $15 to $17 range, while selling shareholders divested just over 5.1 million more shares for a total of approximately $97.3m. The shares opened at $25.10 a share on their first day of trading.
Founded in Brazil in 2000, VTex has built an online platform that helps merchants carry out e-commerce transactions, manage customer engagement and identify market opportunities.
The company booked $98.7m in revenue in 2020, up from $61.3m the year before, and logged a net loss of $800,000 last year compared to $4.6m in 2019.
VTex has earmarked over $245m of the IPO proceeds for software, product and technology development, international market expansion, liquidity maintenance and strategic mergers, acquisitions and investments.
The offering followed a $225m series D round in September 2020 valuing the company at $1.7bn, with SoftBank, Tiger Global Management, Lone Pine Capital, Constellation Asset Management and Endeavor Catalyst supplying the funding.
SoftBank had already led a $140m round for the company in late 2019 through its Latin America-oriented SoftBank Innovation Fund, participating alongside Gávea Investimentos and Constellation Asset Management.
Internet group Naspers paid $10.7m for a 27.7% stake in VTex in 2012, before selling 25% to Riverwood Captial and the rest to company co-founders Mariano Gomide and Geraldo Thomaz for $10.4m three years later.
Gomide and Thomaz each own 0.3% of class A shares VTex’s and 18.9% of its class B shares post-IPO. SoftBank Latin America Fund is its largest class A shareholder, owning 9.9%, and has the same amount of class B shares.
Tiger Global owns 6% of the company’s class A shares post-offering, an entity advised by the firm buying up to $50m of class A shares. Riverwood owns 7.1% of its class B shares.
JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Securities are lead underwriters for the IPO, while KeyBanc Capital Markets, Morgan Stanley and Itaú BBA are joint bookrunners. They have the 30-day option to buy up to 2.85 million more shares, potentially lifting its size to over $415m.
