As the world focused on the violence and political chaos in Washington, D.C., other areas of the federal government continued on, allowing the engines of commerce to churn.
To wit, in a new amendment filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, social resale marketplace Poshmark disclosed terms for its upcoming initial public offering. In form S-1/A, the Redwood City, Calif.-based company made known its goal of raising as much as $257.4 million in its upcoming IPO, which is expected to land in the middle of next week.
The company has been on a mandated silent period, so it declined requests for comment. But according to the details filed with the SEC, Poshmark plans to offer 6.6 million shares of class A common stock priced at $35 to $39.
At the high end of this range, the company’s outstanding class A and B shares — at more than 73 million — would give it a market cap of as much as $2.86 billion.
Underwriters on the deal include Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Barclays. Shares will hit the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol POSH.
Poshmark distinguishes itself as a peer-to-peer social resale marketplace for new and used fashion products, including clothing, shoes and accessories. The company holds no inventory, instead powering connections between users to communicate and transact, thanks largely to its tech-powered platform and, at least pre-pandemic, live parties and social events. It takes a cut of 20 percent for sales of $15 or more, with a flat rate of $2.95 for transactions under $15.
As of Sept. 30, the company boasted 4.5 million active sellers, 6.2 million active buyers and more than 201 million listed items, with 31.7 million active users overall.
The company, which employs 501 workers, shot into profitable territory in 2020. After reporting losses of $34 million between January and September 2019, Poshmark posted nearly $21 million in income for the same period last year. Revenue grew to $192.8 million, for a spike of 28 percent.
The management team is headed by cofounder, president and chief executive officer Manish Chandra, a technology executive who had cofounded Kaboodle, an e-commerce site later acquired by Hearst Communications.
At Poshmark’s latest PoshFest in October 2019, Chandra and his team touted the company’s innovation and technology-oriented approach. Fueled by artificial intelligence and machine learning, the platform is in a constant state of development to debut new features that not only help sellers connect with shoppers, but make it easy to turn users into sellers and develop relationships with a broad audience of fashion enthusiasts across Canada and the U.S.
By: Adriana Lee
