US-based video fitness service Peloton Interactive is hiring banks to prepare an initial public offering that would enable its corporate investors to exit, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
Peloton, whose backers include mass media group Comcast and cosmetics distributor Grace Beauty, is interviewing prospective underwriters for the IPO this week according to people familiar with the matter, and expects to float in the second half of this year.
Founded in 2012, Peloton offers a home exercise service that combines specialised exercise bikes with live daily workouts provided by trainers through video streaming. The streams are broadcast on the bike’s screen and are available through a subscription service.
The company told CNBC this week that it has sold about 400,000 of the bikes, which retail for about $2,000 each not including delivery costs, and it added a customised treadmill to its product range in late 2018.
The offering would follow $995m of equity funding including a $550m series F round in August 2018 that was led by growth equity firm TCV and backed by Comcast NBCUniversal, and which was closed at a $4.15bn valuation.
Investment and financial services group Fidelity also participated in the August round, as did venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers (KPCB) and True Ventures, and investment managers Wellington Management and Balyasny Asset Management.
Grace Beauty subsidiary Grace Beauty Capital reportedly first invested in Peloton in 2012, and its earlier backers include True Ventures, accelerator Bullish, investment firm Tiger Global Management and a range of angel investors, before private equity firm L Catterton added $75m in 2015.
Fidelity Investments, True Ventures, KPCB and Wellington Management subsequently co-led the company’s $325m series E round in 2017, investing with Comcast NBCUniversal, GGV Capital, Balyasny Asset Management and QuestMark Partners at a $1.25bn valuation.
Image courtesy of Peloton Interactive, Inc.
