Hootsuite Media Inc. is holding off on an initial public offering for at least 18 months after raising additional private funding, even as cloud-based software companies like Box Inc. are well received by equity investors.
Hootsuite has seen the excitement following Box’s IPO last week and Zendesk Inc.’s in May, said Chief Executive Officer Ryan Holmes. Vancouver-based Hootsuite, which allows corporate clients sell and monitor ads on multiple social-media accounts using a single cloud-based dashboard, will be patient about approaching the public markets, Holmes said.
“We are building the foundations and best practices of a public company, and have a lot of interest in an offering, which may happen in 18-24 months,” Holmes said in an e-mail.
Hootsuite, which raised $60 million in new private funding in September, is among several Canadian technology companies investors have been expecting to go public this year. Shopify Inc., an Ottawa-based e-commerce company, is likely to make its debut in the coming months after hiring Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Canada and Credit Suisse Group AG to manage the offering.
Hootsuite’s recent funding round, which included existing investors Accel Partners, Insight Venture Partners and OMERS Ventures, brought its total financing to date to $250 million. The company has more than 10 million users worldwide, according to its website.
Box, a Los Altos, California-based cloud-storage company, raised $175 million in a U.S. IPO last week, pricing its shares at $14 apiece.The stock has risen more than 30 per cent since it began trading on Jan. 23.
News by Bloomberg, edited by ESM
