chewy Archives - Crunchbase News /tag/chewy/ Data-driven reporting on private markets, startups, founders, and investors Thu, 22 Aug 2019 18:56:04 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.5 /wp-content/uploads/cb_news_favicon-150x150.png chewy Archives - Crunchbase News /tag/chewy/ 32 32 Tech Feels Hot As Q2 Races To A Close /venture/tech-feels-hot-as-q2-races-to-a-close/ Mon, 17 Jun 2019 13:44:46 +0000 http://news.crunchbase.com/?p=19097 Morning Markets: Cryptocurrencies are back on the bounce, and tech IPOs are hot. And it’s nearly time to check in on the global venture world. 

The second quarter is racing to a close. Amazingly, we’ll soon dive into July and the third three-month period of the year. That means earnings seasons (good!), summer (good!), and your partner taking you on hikes (bad!).

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But what matters for us this morning is momentum. More simply, in what sort of shape is tech dragging itself across the Q2 finish line?

To my surprise, it feels like the tech world is wrapping the first half of 2019 strongly. Let’s take a peek at some secondary signals that could give us a rough proxy for where tech is heading.

With the quarter nearly over, the Crunchbase News team is prepping our regular set of venture capital reports. We’ll have those turned in and hitting the presses right after the Fourth of July. But that’s to come, today we’re hunting around the edges.

Signals

We’re looking at three types of value today. We’ll start with the most exotic, move to the largest in terms of worth, and then examine the highest velocity.

Crypto, Again

Let’s start with cryptocurrencies. Now, you’ve stopped thinking about them after the great bitcoin crash that started as 2017 came to a close and effectively turned what had been a sure thing into, once again, a joke.

Things then got worse for the world of digital currencies and distributed ledgers as 2018 slumped in 2019. The value of a single bitcoin slipped under $4,000. The situation turned around in April of this year as bitcoin began to rally. And it’s kept going, recently cresting the $9,000 mark. All its friends added in, and the cryptocurrency market is worth just under $288 billion today, according to .

That’s up around 2.5x the figure’s lows. Recovery? Dead cat bounce? I don’t know, but watching bitcoin go full Lazarus is not a bearish sign.

Next, the stock market from two angles. First, incumbents. Second, upstarts.

Did you know that is up around 50 percent from its 52-week lows? Facebook’s lowest point in the last year was $123.02 as 2018 finished. The company’s share price has recovered in 2019, up to over $180 as of the time of writing. Sure, Facebook is still about $40 per share off highs, but the company’s sins have largely been forgiven by the market.

The techlash is more a media and Washington phenomenon than it is Wall Street fear, at least when it comes to the biggest tech shops. Facebook is worth $517 billion. is still worth north of $1 trillion. is worth $886.8 billion, $920.5 billion, and $753.4 billion.

So, at the top of the market, everything looks good. Sure, there’s some rustling for a new regulatory regime. But as one party is concerned about phantom bans centered around a caricature of their own political belief, and the other is led by animus for hard-to-regulate platform power, it seems unlikely that the Capitol will be able to get off its own hands and do anything.

The big companies are going to be fine.

And the smaller shops are doing well, too. is sharply higher from its recent IPO price. As is and . Even is back over its IPO price.

Vectors

From three angles, then, the tech world is chugging along. The old money is doing well. The giants are healthy and fat and rich. The new money is doing well too, with new offerings finding rapturous reception from public investors. And the putatively next money is doing well, too.

It’s a go from all three sides. The money in the middle of the three — venture capital — will give us a final look at the sector’s health. But if we use external signals to guess, I suspect the Q2 venture numbers will be just fine.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias.

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The IPO Win-Streak Continues As Chewy’s Shares Surge In Early Trading /venture/the-ipo-win-streak-continues-as-chewys-shares-surge-in-early-trading/ Fri, 14 Jun 2019 15:50:07 +0000 http://news.crunchbase.com/?p=19094 Morning Markets: Shares of online pet supply group Chewy are skyrocketing this morning after pricing above-range.

After shares of and priced strongly and enjoyed strong first-day debuts, the IPO cycle put up more points this morning with the successful debut of . Chewy, an online pet supply group, , raising just over $1 billion and putting up a market cap just a shade under $9 billion.

That value, however, has been quickly outstripped. Chewy is currently worth $39.66 per share, up 27 percent as of the time of writing. That values the firm at around $15.9 billion if our morning math checks out.

Chewy has been up since the moment it began trading. The company’s first trade , up 63.6 percent.

So What?

Another IPO, another strong result, so what? Well, it’s all well and good that CrowdStrike did well in its IPO. It had quickly growing revenue and falling losses. That’s a great formula in today’s market; investors want growth, and falling losses indicate a model that works.

Fiverr was the same, albeit with slower growth. So, what did Chewy bring to the table?

The same. Chewy’s estimates for what amounts to its most recent quarter include revenue growth of $763.5 million in the year-ago period, to $1.11 billion. The firm’s net loss also slimmed from $59.8 million in the year-ago quarter, to $29.6 million in the most recent. Free cash flow, however, worsened from -$58.7 million in the year-ago period to -$63.4 million in the most recent quarter.

So Chewy mostly fits the current model of success, bringing growth and slimming losses. That makes its success understandable. At the same time, the company is selling Class A shares in its IPO, which come with one vote. Class B stock, which the company holds lots of, 10 votes per share. Harumph, I hate this sort of dual-class shenanigans.

But whatever, says the market, Chewy is worth around 64x times its current, annualized gross profit!

And with that, have an excellent Friday, , and have a great weekend.

Illustration: .

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IPO Update: CrowdStrike, Fiverr, And Chewy /venture/ipo-update-crowdstrike-fiverr-and-chewy/ Tue, 11 Jun 2019 16:26:30 +0000 http://news.crunchbase.com/?p=19035 Morning Markets: A quick note on what’s ahead.

Let’s talk quickly about the IPO market. There’s , and we need to stay on top of it all.

First, intends to price 18 million shares tonight, between $28 and $30 per share. That’s a haul that should tip the scales at just over a half billion dollars. The firm will begin to trade on Wednesday. You can read our prior coverage of the company’s IPO here.

Notable about CrowdStrike is that it is another example of a that, in this case, didn’t seem to close off the IPO run. A good pricing experience probably helped the firm avoid the grips of a larger company.

Moving on, . Surprised that this company is going public? It’s still doing that. Expect Fiverr to sell 5.3 million shares at a price of $17 to $19 per share. The company’s risible ad copy won’t stop the firm from gettin’ out the door. Evidence, we thought, of the market showing that the IPO window is quite open.

Fiverr is to price on Wednesday, and trade on Thursday. The firm raised $111 million as a private company.

And finally, ! This company (fairly!) for its impending dual-class stock structure. It’s a case of capital winning thanks to the raw power of money, and a money-losing company selling second-class equity to the public in hopes of allowing them to fund its growth.

A deal! Putting aside the inane class setup (someone please make a Titanic joke), the company’s performance is kinda ok. It’s growing, its net losses are coming down. But Chewy’s cash burn on a both operating and a free cash flow basis are trending down. But, it’s 2019, and if Fiverr is going public I don’t see why Chewy can’t.

Expect Chewy to sell just under 42 million shares for $17 to $19 this Thursday, and trade on Friday.

Three IPOs in a week? Let’s go!

Image: Istock

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IPO Update: Chewy, TheRealReal, And Slack /venture/ipo-update-chewy-therealreal-and-slack/ Tue, 04 Jun 2019 15:50:25 +0000 http://news.crunchbase.com/?p=18930 Morning Markets: The IPO market continues apace. Here’s a look at future attractions.

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After the Lyft and Uber and Luckin and Fastly and Zoom IPOs, you are probably ready for a good, long break from public market coverage. Too bad.

There are a number of interesting offerings coming up that you need to understand and watch. So, please consider this morning’s Morning Markets as a homework assignment. The following companies are firms that you should become familiar with, and watch as they debut.

In every IPO, there’s a lesson. Here’s what’s next on the blackboard:

  • GSX Techedu: Expected to trade this Thursday. Online tutoring for kids in China. The company is profitable ($5 million in net income off $40.1 million in revenue during Q1 2019), and growing quickly. The pretty neat firm, , expects to price between $9.50 and $11.50 per share, listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “GSX.”
  • : Expected to trade this Friday. This company sells fashion. It claims to be a “next-generation fashion retailer for Millennial and Generation Z consumers.” We’re including it on our list of companies to keep an eye on because “data-driven” and run on its own “custom, proprietary technology platform.” Notably, Revolve is also profitable, putting up just under $5 million in net income against $137.3 million in Q1 revenue. Look for this company to price between $16 and $18 per share and trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “RVLV.”
  • : Expected to trade next Wednesday. Cybersecurity shop CrowdStrike is shooting for a valuation of possibly more than $4 billion, making its IPO a big deal. And, as we noted in our prior coverage, the company’s recent financial results have a lot to like in them. Sure, the company still loses money but hey, that’s just 2019.
  • : Expected to trade next Friday. Chewy expects to price between $17 and $19 per share, listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “CHWY.” Chewy is growing but losing money. Its gross profit grew from $150.0 million in the 13 weeks ending April 29, 2018, to $253.9 million in the 13 weeks ending May 5, 2019. And during that period of growth, its net loss fell from about $60 million to about $30 million. But its cash burn from operating activities and its free cash flow each worsened over the year. Active customers rose over the same period.
  • : Expected to trade June 20th. Next up, everyone’s favorite direct listing. More here when we have it, but for now Slack’s growth is good, its got lots of money, and it’s doing its own thing.
  • We don’t know when this company will start trading, but we did get our hands on its numbers recently. Learn more here.

Feeling good? Got all that? Good. I’m going to be offline for the Slack listing, but around for the rest. Get excited, it’s IPO season yet!

For more, check out our coverage of all neat 2019 IPOs here.

Illustration: .

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