Over the last year, the need for tech solutions has risen substantially, which has done wonders for the advertisement industry. Google, Facebook, and many other companies that rely on advertising for revenue have been making tons of money, and thus, the entire market is witnessing unprecedented growth. InMobi, which is another ad dependent company, has also grown massively in the last year, and now, it might be looking to get to the next stage.
According to a report by Bloomberg, Indian tech startup InMobi, which is the country’s first startup to hit the unicorn status in terms of venture funding (which, by the way, refers to companies which possess a net value of over 1 billion dollars), has set it’s eyes on listing in the US Market by the end of 2021. This comes as many Indian startups consider undertaking initial public offerings (IPOs), after seeing massive growth in business over the last year.
InMobi, a multinational company providing mobile advertising technology, has its headquarters at Bangalore. It provides a mobile-first platform, to allow publishers, developers, and brands, to interact with customers through mobile advertising. It currently operates in many countries, including the US, Australia, China, and South Korea, apart from India, and carries out targeted delivery of specific advertisements to user’s mobiles, by making use of special algorithms. It has also made a name for itself in helping advertisers create ads and monetize the traffic, and also provides real-time reports on campaign performances.
After seeing rapid growth ever since its conception in 2007 (its current value stands at between $12 to 15 billion, according to the report), the company is now looking to launch itself into the IPO process in the coming weeks, with the offering size possibly going as high as $1 billion.
After board meetings have been held to decide the course of action to undertake the IPO listing, InMobi will be looking at three months before it finalizes and files the S-1 statement, which is basically a registration document that companies have to submit to the US Security and Exchange Commission before they officially enter the stock market. This will be followed by the subsequent steps to ensure a successful debut. The company is also in talks with several potential banks for carrying out the listing. Notable among these are the CitiGroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
With the IPO market growing at an extremely fast pace, a successful listing debut has the potential of making InMobi the first among India’s recent crop of unicorns which now stands at 100) to directly list into the US stock exchange. This, in turn, can mark the beginning of India’s shift to avenues beyond outsourcing services and information technology. Meanwhile, the firm’s biggest backer, SoftBank Group Corp., which currently owns around 40% of the company, may be in for a blow from the move, at least on paper anyway. Nevertheless, it will still be a major leap for other Indian multinational startups which are eyeing the global market and public domain.
