AAA Fitbit closes IPO at $841m

Fitbit closes IPO at $841m

US-based wearable products maker Fitbit closed its initial public offering at $841.2m today, after the IPO’s underwriters took up the option to acquire almost 5.5 million extra shares.

The company has sold almost 22.4 million shares priced at $20 each in the IPO, while shareholders including wireless technology producer Qualcomm and telecommunications firm SoftBank sold an additional 19.7 million.

Fitbit manufactures wearable health and fitness trackers, and had sold 20.8 million of them by the end of March this year. It made a $48m profit in the first quarter of 2015 from revenue of approximately $337m, and is also diversifying into other products such as connected watches.

The company floated on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, and its stock stands at $37.88 at time of publication.

Fitbit had raised $83m in funding prior to the offering, including $43m from a 2013 series D round featuring SoftBank and Qualcomm subsidiaries SoftBank Capital and Qualcomm Ventures.

SoftBank sold 825,000 shares in the offering, giving it a $16.5m cash return. It retains about 9.3 million shares in Fitbit giving it a 5.7% stake.

Qualcomm sold a total of almost 170,000 shares in the offering, making a partial return of 3.4 million, but will retain an additional 3.2 million shares equating to a 2% share in Fitbit. On paper, it has returned its entire $100m Life Fund.

Other notable shareholders in Fitbit post-IPO include Sapphire Ventures, the venture capital firm spun out of software provider SAP, which sold $21m of shares retaining a 3.5% stake, Foundry Group (a $211m cash return, retaining a 25.7% stake) and True Ventures (a $62.7m cash return, retaining a 22.4% stake).

Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank Securities, and BofA Merrill Lynch served as active joint book-running managers for the IPO, while Barclays and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey were passive joint book-running managers. Piper Jaffray, Raymond James, Stifel, and William Blair were co-managers.

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