By Erin McCarthy
Zendesk Inc. filed for an initial public offering Thursday, with
the software company looking to raise up to $150 million.
The San Francisco-based startup is part of a wave of so-called
cloud services that have benefited as businesses shift to using
more applications on the Web. Its software helps companies manage
customer-service issues that come in through email, Twitter, phone
calls and chat conversations.
The Wall Street Journal reported in January that the
company--which makes online help-desk software for businesses--had
hired banks in preparation for an IPO. In a regulatory filing with
the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday, the company said
it had hired Goldman Sachs & Co., Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse
Securities LLC, Pacific Crest Securities LLC and Canaccord Genuity
Inc. as underwriters on the deal.
Software companies, which include cloud providers, were the best
performing among tech IPOs in the U.S. last year, according to
research by bankers at Deutsche Bank AG. Last year's IPOs of
software firms on average returned 59% more than the Nasdaq
Composite Index from their debut to the end of the year, just above
Internet company IPOs' average 57% net return.
Founded in Copenhagen in 2007, Zendesk founders moved to San
Francisco in 2009 and raised their first outside funding from
venture capitalists Charles River Ventures and Benchmark Capital.
The company has raised more than $80 million from investors
including Goldman Sachs, Redpoint Ventures and Matrix Partners.
Zendesk has more than 40,000 customer accounts, which pay
between $1 and $195 a month for each employee using the software,
according to its website.
For 2013, the company posted a loss of $22.6 million, compared
with a loss of $24.4 million a year earlier. However, last year its
revenue increased 88% to $72 million, with 41% of its top line
coming from customers outside the U.S., Zendesk said.
Zendesk said it intends to apply to list its stock on the New
York Stock Exchange under the symbol "ZEN."
Douglas MacMillan and Telis Demos contributed to this
article.
Write to Erin McCarthy at erin.mccarthy@wsj.com
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