Fitbit files for an IPO – complete with real profits
Fitbit, one of the leading makers of fitness-tracking wristbands, filed to go public on Thursday, planning to raise $100 million. And its financial results in recent years stand out for one significant reason. Sure, the company increased its revenue almost ten-fold in just two years, hitting $745 million last year from just $76 million in 2012. And it’s dominating its market niche, with a 68% share by dollars of the fitness tracker market, according to NPD.
But it’s the bottom line, for a change, that drew all the attention in the Thursday IPO filing. After losing money in the early years, San Francisco-based Fitbit turned a profit of $132 million last year and $48 million alone in the first quarter of 2015. And it’s not a sort of funny profit that excludes the cost of stock compensation, acquisitions, or other kinds of expenses that tech start-ups like to overlook when they report “adjusted” net income.
But it’s the bottom line, for a change, that drew all the attention in the Thursday IPO filing. After losing money in the early years, San Francisco-based Fitbit turned a profit of $132 million last year and $48 million alone in the first quarter of 2015. And it’s not a sort of funny profit that excludes the cost of stock compensation, acquisitions, or other kinds of expenses that tech start-ups like to overlook when they report “adjusted” net income.
The profits start at the start – Fitbit sold almost 11 million of those plastic fitness tracking bands last year for a lot more than it paid to make them. Devices range from around $60 for the Zip to $129.95 for the Aria smart scale. The company’s gross margin hit 48%. As a point of reference, Apple’s (AAPL) gross margin was almost 39% in its most recent fiscal year.
The filing also brings to mind one of last year’s more successful IPOs, also from a hardware maker with a popular branded product for consumers: GoPro (GPRO).
As PMCW wrote GoPro is conbsidered a wearable and this IPO is being compared to that so, wearables & IPOs are starting to get attention…..
The camera maker went public in June at $24 a share after showing an almost four-fold revenue rise in two years and an annual profit the year before going public of $61 million thanks to a gross margin of 37%. Its shares shot up to almost $100 within a few months and have since fallen back to just under $50, still double the IPO price.
The camera maker went public in June at $24 a share after showing an almost four-fold revenue rise in two years and an annual profit the year before going public of $61 million thanks to a gross margin of 37%. Its shares shot up to almost $100 within a few months and have since fallen back to just under $50, still double the IPO price.
Fitbit just filed an S-1 declaring its plans to go public.
The filing states that the fitness-tracking company aims to raise $100 million in its initial public offering (that number could change). It also says the company will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “FIT”.
Fitbit has sold 20.8 million devices total, with 10.9 million of them sold last year. Other details:
Nice as I had been looking for some sales figures….
Fitbit brought in $745.4 million in revenue last year, up from $271.1 million in 2013.
It had 6.7 million active users at the end of 2014, up from 2.6 million at the end of the previous year.
The company reported net income of $131.8 million in 2014, compared to a loss of $51.6 million in 2013.
Foundry Group owns 28.9 percent of the company’s shares, True Ventures owns 22.4 percent and and SoftBank owns 5.6 percent. (Fitbit raised more than $80 million in funding, according to CrunchBase.)
The company unveiled its first Fitbit Tracker at the TechCrunch50 conference in 2008. It now offers six wearable health and fitness trackers (which collect data about things like steps taken and calories burned), as well as web and mobile apps, plus premium services like virtual coaching.
It had 6.7 million active users at the end of 2014, up from 2.6 million at the end of the previous year.
The company reported net income of $131.8 million in 2014, compared to a loss of $51.6 million in 2013.
Foundry Group owns 28.9 percent of the company’s shares, True Ventures owns 22.4 percent and and SoftBank owns 5.6 percent. (Fitbit raised more than $80 million in funding, according to CrunchBase.)
The company unveiled its first Fitbit Tracker at the TechCrunch50 conference in 2008. It now offers six wearable health and fitness trackers (which collect data about things like steps taken and calories burned), as well as web and mobile apps, plus premium services like virtual coaching.
The filing acknowledges that Fitbit faces heavy competition, and yes, it mentions the Apple Watch. Fitbit says it competes successfully based on factors like brand awareness, variety of products, battery life and sensors, the online and mobile app experience, sales and marketing, and distribution:
By offering a broad range of products spanning styles and affordable price points and cross-platform compatibility, we empower a wide range of individuals with different fitness routines and goals that are difficult for other competitors to address. Moreover, our singular focus on building a connected health and fitness platform, coupled with a leading market share, has led to our brand becoming synonymous with the connected health and fitness category. This singular focus on health and fitness has driven us to dedicate significant resources to developing proprietary sensors, algorithms, and software to ensure that our products,
I have added them & Jawbone as companies that have algo crown jewels that they might port to the S2/S3?
Anyway that they have in house algos that they would not trust anyone else with for now.
Anyway that they have in house algos that they would not trust anyone else with for now.
which are specifically oriented towards health and fitness, have accurate measurements, insightful analytics, compact sizes, durability, and long battery lives. We believe this singular focus allows us to compete favorably with companies that have introduced or have announced plans to introduce devices with broad-based functionalities, including health and fitness tracking capabilities, which are not necessarily optimized for health and fitness usag
A nice change in the ecosystem landscape.
No comments:
Post a Comment