Sonos Public Listing Comes As Investor Appetite for Tech IPOs Grows
Smart speaker maker Sonos has officially filed to go public.
The company, which confidentially filed for an IPO in April, could raise as much as $100 million in the offering and could be valued at as much as $3 billion.
According to its regulatory filings, Sonos brought in revenue of over $1 billion in the 12 months ending in March. It posted a profit of $13.1 million in the first half of its fiscal year, slightly lower than the $15 million brought in the previous year. Over the last 12 months though, the company posted a loss of about $16 million.
Sonos, founded in 2002, pioneered the wireless speaker space, creating a product that allowed people to have multiple speakers playing different audio at the same time. Its original competitors were the likes of Bose and Bang & Olufsen.
After Apple, Google, and Amazon entered the field, the company scrambled to compete in the rapidly changing landscape by launching smart speakers powered by Amazon’s Alexa. The company’s products can also seamlessly integrate with external streaming systems and voice assistants, including Spotify and Apple Music.
Sonos is betting that its flexibility will be attractive to investors, said Wall Street Journal reporter Maureen Farrell.
“Part of the appeal, and this is obviously something that they really tout and will thoroughly be touting on the roadshow, is that they can partner with all of these companies,” said Farrell, who broke the story that the company was looking to go public in April.
“They obviously have huge competition, but I think what they’re betting on is that you get one of them in your house, or a couple, you really like it, and then they have this moat around them.”
Sonos would join more than a dozen tech companies that made a public debut this year in an attempt to capitalize on growing investor appetite for tech stocks, said Farrell.
“Last year we saw some pretty disastrous IPOs,” she said, alluding to Snap’s turbulent public offering. “It’s been such an incredibly different landscape this year."
"Tech IPOs are up more than 50 percent year-to-date," said Farrell.
"It just seems like investors right now are clamoring for anything tech-ish.”
Sonos plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker "SONO."
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/sonos-likely-to-raise-more-than-100-million-in-ipo)
Specializing in AI, robotics, and automation for the global supply chain, Symbotic announced last month it will be tapping the public markets in a SPAC deal with investment giant SoftBank. Symbotic CFO Tom Ernst and Vikas Parekh, a managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers spoke with Cheddar about going public and the future of modernizing logistics amid the constrained supply networks. "The supply chain is fundamentally broken," said Ernst. "By employing the best in modern technology for autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence, we're able to fundamentally rethink the way in which you receive and store and sort goods, making for a dramatically more efficient supply chain."
Michael Hershfield, Founder & CEO of Accrue Savings, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss the company's new round of funding, and its core mission of rewarding consumers for saving rather than taking on more debt with buy now, pay later options.
Markets opened higher on the first trading day of the new year as investors continue to watch inflation and the rapid spread of the omicron variant in the U.S. Frances Newton Stacy, Optimal Capital Dir. of Strategy/Market Analyst joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Markets opened higher as investors react to positive data on the labor front, with weekly jobless claims falling to 198,000 for the week ending December 25. Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the market open.
Sky Harbour, a company developing private aviation infrastructure, is gearing up to land on Wall Street. The company announced plans to go public through a SPAC deal with Yellowstone Acquisition Company, valuing the combined venture at $777 million. The company will trade on the New York Stock Exchange as $SKYH.
Dish Network is reportedly in discussions to merge with DirecTV. According to the NY Post, the two sides are currently 'trying to iron out the details.' The competitors have had talks in the past -- over the course of the past 20 years, but those talks been halted by the DOJ over antitrust concerns. Lydia Moynihan, Business Reporter, NY Post joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Jessie Woolley-Wilson, President and CEO of DreamBox Learning, joins ChedHER to discuss how technology is transforming the way the world learns, and her career journey as a leading woman of color in the tech industry.
One startup is working to reverse climate change one seed at a time. Terraformation is a global forest accelerator that provides tools, training, financing, and business support to help scale forest restoration projects worldwide. Forests naturally absorb carbon and Terraformation says that reforestation is a safe, low-cost, and scalable solution to the climate crisis. Yee Lee, VP of growth at Terraformation, joins Cheddar Climate to discuss.
