SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco startup AppDynamics is the latest 2017 IPO candidate, filing paperwork for a $100 million offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week.
The Wednesday filing from the unicorn company, which develops app-monitoring software for other businesses, comes at the tail end of an unimpressive IPO year.
Just 11 Silicon Valley companies went public in 2016, raising $1.2 billion — half as many deals as last year, and 70 percent less money raised, according to Dec. 20 data from analytics firm Ipreo.
But experts are hopeful 2017 will look better, and AppDynamics’ commitment to going public — something its executives have been talking about doing for a while — is a positive sign.
The $100 million price tag on the AppDynamics deal likely is just a placeholder, according to Renaissance Capital, which manages IPO-focused, exchanged-traded funds. The firm estimates AppDynamics could raise up to $150 million.
AppDynamics, founded in 2008, was last valued at $1.9 billion, according to venture capital database CB Insights. The company has raised more than $300 million from big-name investors including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Battery Ventures.
AppDynamics pulled in $158 million during the nine months ending Oct. 31, up from $103 million during the same period last year, according to the company’s SEC filing. But its losses are growing as well. The startup’s net losses were $95 million in the nine month period this year, compared to $92 million during the same period the year before.
In the filing, the company admitted it has “incurred significant operating losses in the past,” and may not be able to generate enough revenue to become profitable.
AppDynamics is expected to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol APPD.
