Eventbrite has raised the target price range for its initial public offering, indicating strong investor demand for shares in the event management and ticketing company.
In an amended prospectus filed on Tuesday, Eventbrite said it currently estimates the IPO will be priced between $21 and $23, up from the previous range of $19 to $21.
With 11.5 million shares being offered, the IPO would raise from $241.5 million to $264.5 million and give Eventbrite a valuation of between $1.64 billion and $1.80 billion.
“Both are healthy valuation and capital-raise upgrades for a firm that hasn’t posted an operating profit, let alone net profit in any reported quarter,” Crunchbase said.
Eventbrite’s online platform provides event-management tools and ticketing services for, according to the prospectus, “the broad range of events between those where the venue dictates the ticketing relationship, like professional sports and blockbuster concerts, and those where there are often no formal venue or event management needs, like small, personal gatherings.”
The company, which was founded in 2006, derives most of its revenue from a cut of its users’ ticket sales. In 2017, it helped more than 700,000 users issue approximately 203 million tickets for some three million events in over 170 countries, the prospectus said.
Net revenue increased last year to $201.6 million from $133.5 million in 2016, representing year-over-year net revenue growth of 51.0%. Eventbrite’s net loss widened to $40.4 million from $38.5 million over the same period.
The IPO will “test the market’s appetite for a small-scale ticketing business that deals with lower-profile events and doesn’t rely on exclusive access to major sporting events and the like,” MarketWatch said.
According to MarketsandMarkets, the total event management software market was valued at $6.4 billion in 2017 and is projected to grow to $11.1 billion by 2022, representing a CAGR of 11.6% during the forecast period.
Eventbrite said that based on its own research, its platform “will address a current market opportunity in our top 12 markets that is estimated to be 1.1 billion paid tickets generating $3.2 billion in gross ticket fees.”