Online marketplace Etsy, which specialises in selling handcrafted goods including cosmetics, has filed for an IPO.
The number of shares to be sold and the price range has not yet been confirmed, however, it has been reported that the IPO could go public as early as April.
Etsy, which was founded in 2006, has experienced phenomenal growth over the past decade and has expanded into selling cosmetics, fragrances, bath and body products, and beauty accessories and tools.
By the end of last year, the Brooklyn-based company had connected with 54 million members, including 1.4 million active sellers and 19.8 million active buyers across the world.
In 2014, Etsy registered revenue of $195.6m, up 56.4% compared with 2013, while its sellers generated GMS of $1.93bn, an increase of 43.3% on 2013. Interestingly, 36.1% of these purchases were made on mobile devices and 30.9% came from an Etsy seller or buyer outside of the US.
In the document, which was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Etsy noted: “The principal purposes of this offering are to increase our visibility, create a public market for our common stock and facilitate our future access to the public equity markets. We currently intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for working capital and general corporate purposes, including continued investments in the growth of our business.”
It also revealed that it may use a portion of the net proceeds for acquisitions of other complementary businesses, technologies or assets. Meanwhile, Etsy stated that it planned to use $300,000 of the proceeds from the IPO to partially fund etsy.org, a Delaware non-profit organization that the company formed in January this year.
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will act as joint book-running managers for the offering, while Allen & Company will act as co-manager.
