On Wednesday, Seattle-based digital signature pioneer DocuSign made public the document it filed with the SEC to start the process of becoming a publicly traded company. DocuSign is seeking to raise as much as $100 million for its public debut late in April, in which it plans to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol DOCU.
The move marks another big month coming up for SaaS unicorn initial public offerings, following those of cloud storage company Dropbox and cloud-based information security provider Zscaler earlier this year. San Francisco-based Dropbox was the third biggest IPO from the Bay Area in the last five years, raking in just shy of $1 billion as its stock trades about 50% over its initial IPO price two weeks back.
DocuSign’s latest $233 million funding round in 2015 brought its valuation to $3 billion. The company has raked in more than $500 million in venture funding from backers including Bain Capital Ventures, Intel, Microsoft, Deutsche Telekom, Frazier Technology Ventures, Ignition and Sigma. Its largest stakeholders are Sigma Partners, with nearly 13% of outstanding shares, Ignition Partners, with 11.7% and Frazier Technology with 7.2%.
As for of the S-1 filing, the fifteen-year-old company reported financial data for the first time. Revenue for the fiscal year ended Jan 31., 2017, skyrocketed 52% over last year’s $250.5 million in sales to $381.5 million. Over the same period, the software provider posted a net loss of $115.4 million, down from a $122.6 million loss posted in fiscal 2016. Last year, DocuSign listed 285,00 customers, up from 210,000 in 2016. Enterprise and commercial customers grew by 7,000 over the same period.
The e-signature company listed risk factors including President Trump’s increasingly protectionist trade policies, given more stringent export and import controls could result in a delay or loss of sales opportunities even if export licenses are ultimately granted. The company, which has not yet turned a profit, also warned in the filing of a “history of operating losses,” suggesting that it “may not achieve or sustain profitability in the future.”
Moving forward, the firm hopes to build out its global presence, as just 17% of its revenue currently comes from abroad. In the filing, DocuSign said that it plans to grow its international customer base by making strategic investments in technology, direct sales force and global strategic partnerships.
