Roblox, the US-based online gaming platform developer backed by internet group Tencent and record company Warner Music Group (WMG), will list on the New York Stock Exchange today.
The company has opted for a direct listing and expects its shareholders to sell up to 199 million shares. The NYSE has set a guidance price of $45.00 per share, the same price at which Roblox raised $520m in January this year at a valuation of $29.5bn.
Founded in 2004, Roblox is the owner of an online platform with about 37 million daily active users who can create their own games using its development kits and generate income by selling upgrades and in-game objects to gamers.
The company boosted revenue 82% to approximately $924m during 2020, though its net loss rose from $71.1m to $258m in the same period. It has received a total of $1.07bn in venture capital funding.
Altimeter Capital and Dragoneer Investment Group co-led the series H round, which included WMG and Investment Group of Santa Barbara.
Andreessen Horowitz had led Roblox’s $150m series G round in February 2020, investing alongside Tencent, Temasek, Altos Ventures, Meritech Capital and Tiger Global Management at a reported $4bn valuation.
The company’s earlier funding was supplied by Tiger Global, Altos Ventures, Meritech Capital, Greylock Partners, Index Ventures and First Round Capital. Its choice of a direct listing means it is not issuing any new shares, but its shareholders will have the option to sell stock.
Roblox’s shareholding consists of approximately 506 million class A shares in addition to 57.3 million class B shares held entirely by its executives.
Neither corporate holds more than 5% of Roblox’s class A shares. Altos Ventures owns 23.6%, Meritech Capital 11.2%, Index Ventures 10.8%, Tiger Global 8.2% and First Round 6.8%.
