Once upon a time, there were few places that the not-so-technically-inclined could go to secure their own slice of web real estate and build themselves a professional-looking websites. Either they had to speak Internet, or they’d have to pay someone who did a boatload. Just as WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr and others would put blogging, content creation and the ability to chronicle what your cat is having for dinner into the hands of the public, Wix.com launched in 2006 to do the same for website creation.
Capitalizing on the maturing Web and growing demand for DIY creation and publishing tools, the Israel and U.S.-based company has grown to 400 strong, raised $60 million from investors and built a user base of 34 million-plus. Behind its continuing growth, the company announced today that it is officially headed to the public markets — the New York Stock Exchange, to be precise — under the ticker symbol “WIX.”
The company took its first step in this direction in June, submitting its draft registration statement to the SEC, signaling its full intent to go public. It wasn’t clear how long Wix would delay, if at all, before taking the plunge, but the answer came today, as the company filed its official registration statement with the SEC. While the number of shares sold and price range have not yet been determined, the company will list its ordinary shares on the NYSE, and plans to raise up to $100 million for its initial public offering.
According to the statement, the $100 million IPO will be underwritten and managed by J.P. Morgan Securities, BofA Merrill Lynch, RBC Capital Markets and Needham & Company — with the latter two acting as co-managers.
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and BofA Merrill Lynch are acting as lead joint bookrunners for the proposed offering. RBC Capital Markets, LLC is acting as other book-running manager and Needham & Company, LLC and Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. are acting as co-managers.
In terms of the aforementioned growth, in its filing today, Wix reveals that it has “achieved 14 consecutive quarters of sequential growth in its premium subscriptions, growing revenues from $9.9 million in 2010 to $43.7 million in 2012, while collections grew from $13.8 million to $52.5 million, respectively.
For the six months ended June 30th, the filing reads, Wix brought in revenues of “$34.1 million, collections of $41.9 million and a net loss of $10.1 million,” on the back of its 679,536 premium subscriptions (as of August 30th).
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