BigCommerce, a provider of e-commerce tools, has filed a preliminary S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in preparation for its initial public offering (IPO). The company plans to trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange using the ticker symbol "BIGC." Since this is a preliminary regulatory filing, the company listed a $100 million dollar placeholder as the amount it hopes to raise, though it has yet to disclose how many shares it will offer or provide a timeline for its debut.
BigCommerce competes with the likes of Shopify (SHOP -2.14%), Adobe's (ADBE -1.66%) Magento, and salesforce.com's (CRM -1.75%) Commerce Cloud, among others. E-commerce stocks in general, and Shopify in particular, have soared this year due to the accelerating adoption of online shopping caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As of Tuesday's close, Shopify shares had gained more than 145% so far this year.
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In its regulatory filing, BigCommerce said it serves approximately 60,000 online stores in 120 countries worldwide, and cites an accelerating shift in the adoption of digital commerce as key to its decision to go public.
The software-as-a-service (SaaS) company says it "simplifies the creation of beautiful, engaging online stores by delivering a unique combination of ease-of-use, enterprise functionality, and flexibility." BigCommerce listed several well-known names among its customer rolls, including Avery Dennison (AVY 1.11%), Ben & Jerry's, SC Johnson, SkullCandy, Sony (SONY -1.19%), and Woolrich.
For 2019, BigCommerce reported revenue of $112.1 million, an increase of 22% year over year, while its net loss of $42.6 million widened from $38.9 million in the prior year. Revenue growth improved slightly in the first quarter, up 30%.
The results pale in comparison to Shopify, which in 2019 generated revenue of $1.58 billion, up 47% year over year, resulting in non-GAAP (adjusted) net income of $34.3 million. Shopify also boasts more than 1 million merchants worldwide.
