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)

Share:
More In Technology
Taproot Bitcoin Update Signals Change for Crypto
Bitcoin received its first update in four years called Taproot. Unlike the previous bitcoin update in 2017, Taproot has widespread support — in part because these changes involve fairly incremental improvements to the code. Christie Harkin, tech managing editor at CoinDesk, explained what the move could mean for the future of cryptocurrencies as a whole.
Snapchat Reaches Licensing Deal With Sony Music
Snap has announced a licensing deal with Sony Music, giving its social media platform Snapchat access to the label's entire catalog. The deal now gives the company agreements with all of the major industry labels.
Kyndryl Announces First Partnership With Microsoft
Kyndryl isn't wasting any time as an independent company. Just over a week after spinning off from IBM, the IT infrastructure services provider has announced its first global strategic partner in Microsoft. The two tech giants are coming together to form a new kind of power duo, creating multi-billion dollar revenue opportunities between the companies. Stephen Leonard, global alliances & partnerships leader for Kyndryl, told Cheddar more about the partnership and what it aims to achieve.
Bitcoin Launches Taproot, Its Biggest Upgrade Since 2017
Bitcoin has successfully activated Taproot, the cryptocurrency's first major upgrade since 2017 and a highly anticipated change to the blockchain. Taproot will introduce what's known as Schnorr signatures, which will help transactions become more private, efficient and perhaps even less expensive. Robert Hackett, a cryptocurrency expert and journalist, breaks down the new upgrade and what it means for bitcoin users.
Load More