Renaissance Capital logo

Five upcoming global internet IPOs to join the billion-dollar club

September 12, 2014

In the last ten years, the global IPO market had 8 internet companies reach $1 billion or more in proceeds raised. In the coming months, that number could reach 13, a 63% increase. The IPO ETF, which recently surpassed the S&P 500's year-to-date performance, added JD.com (JD) and Twitter (TWTR) after 5 days of trading, and could include Alibaba as a fast-entry candidate.



Alibaba, September 19,  $20 billion
Alibaba's (BABA) $20+ billion deal, expected to price next Thursday to become the largest IPO of all time, has dominated IPO news headlines. At the current midpoint, Alibaba would be the 23rd-largest US-listed company by market cap, larger than Amazon and Citigroup.

Zalando, expected week of Sep 28, $1.2 billion
Zalando began as a the European version of Zappos and evolved into Europe's largest online fashion retailer. Based in Germany, the company had over $1.8 billion in revenue for the fiscal year 2013, up 57% from the prior year, and just recently turned profitable.

LINE, 4Q14, $1.0 billion
LINE (LIN.RC) is a Japanese instant messaging app, similar to Tencent's WeChat or Facebook's Whatsapp. The app service has almost 500 million users, and plans to dual list in the US and Tokyo.

Cnova, 4Q14, $1.0 billion
The largest online retailer in France and the second-largest in Brazil, Cnova (CNV) originally filed for a US IPO in June and could arrive in the fourth quarter. With over $4 billion in revenue and 18% growth in the most recent quarter, Cnova is the e-commerce deal to watch for investors who want exposure outside of China.

Rocket Internet, 4Q14, $1.0 billion
Rocket Internet claims its mission is to become the world's largest internet platform outside the US and China. Based in Germany, the company invests in fast-growing internet startups, often copies of US success stories, and builds them to maximize scale. The tech incubator even helped Zalando make it to this list.