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In an encouraging sign for tech startups, Coupa just raised the price of its IPO shares

Julie Bort   

In an encouraging sign for tech startups, Coupa just raised the price of its IPO shares
Enterprise2 min read

rob bernshteyn coupa software

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Coupa CEO Rob Bernshteyn

Coupa Software is the next tech IPO, expected to happen on Thursday, and in a hopeful sign for the company, it just raised its price range to $16-$18 per share, from $14-$16.

Coupa offers procurement cloud software, competing with companies like SAP's Ariba.

The price raise comes a few days after the last tech IPO hit one out of the ballpark. Nutanix was valued at about $2 billion by its venture investors, but it initially priced its stock so low, it could have been worth less.

However, its stock soared over 130% by the end of its first day of trading and went even higher on day two. Shares have settled back to about $38, giving it a valuation of over $6 billion.

Nutanix was a test case for so-called "unicorn" tech startups, those valued by a $1 billion or more by their venture investors. There's been concern that many of these companies were stuck, still burning cash, but unable to go pubic at a high enough valuation to satisfy their investors, and unable to raise more money from private investors.

If the public market opens them with open arms, a lot of high-valued tech companies will be encouraged to go public. (Some, such as Okta, are believed to be waiting in the wings.)

Coupa's venture investors valued it at just shy of a $1 billion (about $941 million, according to Pitchbook.) If shares don't pop, the IPO will be akin to a down round for Coupa, valuing it less than its private venture capitalists did. At the mid-range, it expects to raise just under $126 million.

Coupa is still in the red and spending heavily on sales and marketing, though its sales are growing.

  • It had $83.6 million in revenue in 2015 (up 66% year-over-year)
  • It lost $46 million last year. But its net loss is shrinking, as it lost $24.3 million in the first six months of this year, slightly down from the $25.1 million net loss recorded in the same period of last year.
  • It spent 62% of its revenue on sales and marketing. That dropped to 45% in the first six months of this year.
  • It holds ~$80 million in cash as of July 2016. Coupa's raised $169 million total in private funding.

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