US-based event ticketing technology provider Eventbrite filed for a $200m initial public offering on The New York Stock Exchange yesterday that could give payment services provider Square an exit.
Founded in 2006, Everbrite has built a software suite for event promoters that covers the planning, promotion and ticketing of live events. It claims to have helped some 700,000 promoters issue about 203 million tickets for events in more than 170 countries.
The company made a $15.6m net loss in the first half of this year, up from $8.3m the year before. It increased revenue 64% from $88.2m to $142m over the same period.
The offering follows some $359m in funding raised by Eventbrite, including a $25m investment by Square in October 2017 in connection with a partnership agreement that will involve Square becoming its primary payment processor in several markets.
Eventbrite had secured $134m in a series G round featuring investment firm Tiger Global Management, venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and asset management firm T. Rowe Price two months before, according to the IPO filing.
Tiger Global is Eventbrite’s largest shareholder and owns a 21.3% stake, followed by Sequoia (20.3%) and T. Rowe Price (6.8%).
The company’s other investors include Global Founders Capital, DAG Ventures, 137 Ventures and Tenaya Capital, none of which own stakes of 5% or more. Sequoia bought $17.2m of shares in a May 2018 secondary transaction but did not reveal who sold them.
Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Securities and Allen & Company are lead joint book-running managers for the IPO. RBC Capital Markets is book-running manager while SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and Stifel, Nicolaus & Company are co-managers.