Demandware Inc., whose e-commerce software drives the sites of 20 of the top 1000 online retailers in North America, plans to go public.
The company says it will sell 5.5 million shares, or nearly 20% of the company, and expects the shares to sell initially for between $12.50 and $14.50. That would bring in between $68.75 million and $79.75 million. The anticipated share price values the company at between $350 million and $406 million.
Demandware previously filed registration papers for an initial public offering of stock last July, but did not follow through with the IPO.
The company, which has been in business since 2004, generated revenue of $56.5 million in 2011, up 54% from $36.7 million in 2010. Demandware lost $1.4 million in 2011 after earning net income of $300,000 in 2010, its only profitable year to date, according to the company’s prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Demandware has 101 clients, the largest being German cataloger and online retailer Neckermann Gruppe, No. 9 in the Top 300 Europe guide, which accounts for 16% of Demandware’s revenue. Top Demandware clients in North America include Hanover Direct, No. 104 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, Jewelry Television (No. 170), Crocs Inc. (No. 198), Jones Retail Group (No. 204) and Barneys New York (No. 222). Demandware’s clients include 15 of the retailers in the Top 500 Guide and five in the Second 500 Guide, which ranks the retailers between 501 and 1000 in North America by online sales.
In its prospectus, Demandware says it plans to use the proceeds from the stock sale to expand its European operations, build its business in the Asia-Pacific region, and create a sales team that will target small and midsized retailers and brands. The company had 215 full-time employees as of Dec. 31, 2011.
Demandware hosts its e-commerce and mobile commerce software and client e-retailers connect to it via the Internet, a delivery model known as software as a service, or SaaS. This approach offers advantages over the two main alternatives for e-retailers—license or develop software and host it on their own premises or outsourcing operation of an e-commerce site to another company—Demandware contends in its prospectus.
“A SaaS delivery model can combine the lower costs, speed of implementation and other operational benefits of outsourcing with the functionality, flexibility and customization capabilities of on-premise enterprise software solutions,” the prospectus says. “As a result, the adoption of SaaS solutions across industries has grown significantly. We believe there is a significant opportunity in the e-commerce market for a company that can offer a comprehensive SaaS solution designed to address the increasingly complex requirements of retailers and brands seeking to attract and satisfy consumers in the digital world.”
Underwriting the Demandware IPO are Goldman, Sachs & Co., Deutsche Bank Securities, William Blair & Company, Oppenheimer & Co. and Canaccord Genuity.
Favorite