AAA Q4 reaches the front of IPO queue

Q4 reaches the front of IPO queue

Q4, a Canada-based financial communications software provider backed by enterprise software producer OpenText, priced a C$100m ($81m) initial public offering on Friday.

The company is issuing just over 8.3 million shares priced at C$12.00 each, below the C$14.50 to C$17.00 range it had set for the offering. It is set to float on the Toronto Stock Exchange later today.

Founded in 2006, Q4 has built a cloud software platform which allows capital markets participants such as investment banks to communicate with publicly listed companies and investors more efficiently. It made a $14.6m net loss from $28.6m in revenue in the first half of 2021.

The company had raised a total of $68m as of a $38m series C round in 2018 led by Napier Park Financial Partners and backed by OpenText’s Enterprise Apps Fund (OTEAF), Information Venture Partners and Espresso Capital.

OTEAF, Information Venture Partners and HarvourVest Partners had co-led a $22m series B round for Q4 in 2016 that also featured Kensington Capital Partners, Accomplice, Emerillon Capital and existing backer Plaza Ventures.

Financial technology-focused investment firm Ten Coves Capital is the only shareholder listed as owning 10% or more of the company and will hold 24.1% of its shares post-offering.

CIBC Capital Markets, National Bank Financial and Credit Suisse Securities are joint bookrunners for the IPO while Canaccord Genuity, Raymond James, RBC Capital Markets, Stifel Nicolaus, TD Securities and Infor Financial are also underwriters.

The underwriters have a 30-day option to buy up to 1.25 million more shares, potentially lifting the size of the offering to C$115m.

By Robert Lavine

Robert Lavine is special features editor for Global Venturing.