Roku has priced its initial public offering at $14 per share as it seeks to become the “TV streaming platform that connects the TV ecosystem.”
Shares were set to begin trading on the Nasdaq Thursday morning. Earlier reports had Roku targeting a $1 billion market cap but the pricing of the IPO values it at $1.3 billion.
The digital streaming company, whose TV set-top boxes have found a market among cord-cutters, plans to sell 15.8 million shares from both Roku and some of its private shareholders, raising $126 million in funding. Roku set a price range of $12 to $14 a share in its prospectus.
“We are in a golden age of TV,” the prospectus said. “Our mission is to be the TV streaming platform that connects the entire TV ecosystem.”
Tech IPOs have hit something of a lull but as Business Insider reports, “Roku’s revenue is growing fast as cord-cutters and other consumers snap up its devices, the cheapest model of which sells for $30.”
Roku had 15.1 million monthly active users as of June 30, up 43% from the year-ago period, who streamed 6.7 billion hours of content. For the six-month period ended June 30, it reported revenue of $199.7 million, up 23% from the year-ago period, with a loss of $21.2 million, compared to a loss of $32.6 million a year ago.
The company’s revenue comes from the sale of Roku TV streaming devices, advertising and subscriptions. Its also offers its software to other consumers electronics makers that want to use Roku as the interface for their smart TVs.
“While the company is trying to move away from the fiercely competitive, low-margin hardware business so that it can grow its advertising business, there are significant challenges facing the company in both markets,” Business Insider said.
“Investors will also need to be comfortable with Roku’s dual-class stock structure, which will give its CEO and other insiders control of 98% of the voting power, even after the IPO,” it added.