Home24, a Germany-based online home products marketplace backed by e-commerce holding group Rocket Internet, revealed today that it plans to raise €150m to €200m ($178m to $235m) in an initial public offering.
The company will list on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and none of its existing backers intend to divest shares. The offering will take place in Germany and Luxembourg, with private placements outside those jurisdictions.
Founded in 2009, Home24 runs an e-commerce marketplace that lists a total of more than 100,000 home and garden products across three main categories: furniture, lamps and accessories. The products are sourced from more than 500 international suppliers.
The platform is currently available in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Brazil, and the company operates showrooms in Germany and Austria.
Home24 has restructured its business as a Societas Europaea (SE), a type of public company registered under corporate law in the EU, ahead of the IPO. SE companies can more easily move headquarters across the union or merge with a business in another member state.
Reports of the company’s possible flotation first emerged in January 2018. Rocket Internet owns a 41% stake in Home24 while investment firm Kinnevik holds 17%, according to the IPO filing.
Rocket Internet most recently took part in a $22.3m funding round for Home24 in September 2016 alongside investment firm Baillie Gifford. The round was reportedly in addition to a May 2016 round, though it now appears they were the same deal.
Rocket Internet had already supplied $12.5m for Home24 as part of a $19.8m round in 2014, and returned the following year to inject $32.7m alongside a $98.2m investment from Baillie Gifford.
Investment bank JP Morgan purchased a 2% stake in the company 2012 in return for an undisclosed sum. Venture capital firm Holtzbrinck Ventures is also among its shareholders.
Berenberg, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs International are the joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the offering.