Coinbase, a US-based crypto trading platform developer backed by corporate investors BBVA, NTT Docomo, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and USAA, filed for a direct listing on the Nasdaq Global Select Market yesterday.
The company had confidentially filed for an initial public offering in December 2020 before switching to a direct listing. Its shares recently changed hands in private trading at a valuation of $100bn.
Founded in 2012, Coinbase is the operator of an online platform allowing users to trade a range of digital currencies. It increased revenue from $534m in 2019 to $1.28bn in 2020 while turning a $30.4m net loss to a $322m net profit.
Coinbase has raised $537m in funding, most recently securing an amount revealed by the filing to be $320m in series E funding from Tiger Global Management, Andreessen Horowitz, Wellington Management, Y Combinator Continuity and Polychain Capital in 2018 at an $8bn valuation.
IVP had previously led a $100m series D round for the company the year before that also featured Spark Capital, Greylock Partners, Battery Ventures, Section 32 and Draper Associates, valuing it at $1.6bn post-money
Financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group led a $10.5m round for the company in 2016 through Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, participating alongside Sozo Ventures.
Financial services firm BBVA, stock exchange operator NYSE, insurance and financial services group USAA and Docomo Capital, a subsidiary of mobile network operator NTT Docomo, had contributed to Coinbase’s $75m series C round in 2015 at a reported $490m valuation.
DFJ Growth led the round, which also featured existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures and Ribbit Capital in addition to private investors Vikram Pandit and Tom Glocer. Its earlier backers include Y Combinator, SV Angel and Fundersclub.
Coinbase’s stock consists of nearly 24.4 million class A shares, the class that will be issued through the listing, as well as 168 million class B shares. The filing does not reveal how many shares each investor plans to sell.
Andreessen Horowitz owns 24.6% of the company’s class A shares, while Tiger Global has 11.7% and Paradigm Fund 11.4%. Andreessen Horowitz also is also the largest external holder of Coinbase’s class B’s, owning 14.2%, followed by Union Square Ventures (8.2%) and Ribbit Capital (7.1%).
