Snowflake’s IPO is clearer

Snowflake’s IPO is one of the most anticipated IPOs of the year, and the cash return on the funds to support the San Mateo-based software publisher is very optimistic. This proposal has been mentioned for a while, even though the SaaS model is not actually putting pressure on data warehouse publishers, the SaaS model is growing rapidly in its market, but it only provides the possibility for shareholders, some of whom are high The tube converts the securities it holds into cash. Snowflake raised a total of US$1.4 billion in eight rounds of financing. With the support of Dragoneer Investment Group, after the most recent fundraising, Snowflake’s valuation reached US$12.4 billion in February. Salesforce. Since June, we know that the IPO is being prepared. Therefore, it can be confirmed that the company sent its IPO documents on the New York Stock Exchange to the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday, with the stock code “Snow”. No date or price for the sale of shares has been set for the initial public offering.

To conduct an initial public offering, Frank Slootman was hired as CEO last year to take over the position of Bob Muglia, who is Veterans in the computer industry have earned a reputation in Snowflake. (Source: Snowflake)

In some key data, the company’s success can be seen from the document: a significant net retention rate of 158% (the SaaS market’s indicators correspond to the turnover of retained customers in the previous year), as of July 2020 On the 31st, the company had a portfolio of 3,117 clients (corrected the estimated value of approximately 4,000 issued in June), which means that it added 1,547 clients in a year. In this portfolio, 56 customers have generated more than $1 million in revenue for Snowflake in 12 months, and the company’s NPS is also very good, at 71 (net promotion value is an indicator of customer satisfaction). In the second quarter of 2021, the publisher’s turnover increased by 121% in one year to reach 133 million US dollars. In the end, between July 1 and July 31, 2020, customers made an average of 500 million requests per day for data warehouses built using Snowflake technology.

Data Cloud: An ecosystem of connected data

The Snowflake team pointed out in the IPO summary: “We believe that in a world of connected data, organizations can flexibly access to explore, share and release the value of data.” “To realize this vision, we are taking the lead in developing a data cloud. , This ecosystem allows Snowflake customers, partners and data providers to break data silos and extract value from rapidly growing data sets., in a safe, regulated and compliant manner. (…) Our platform solves Data silos and governance issues for decades”. The company was founded in 2012 by Benoît Dageville and Thierry Cruanes, two IT engineers with extensive database expertise. They left Oracle to take full advantage of the cloud to create their own analytical database model.

As of July 31, 2020, Snowflake has 2,037 employees in 19 countries/regions. Above, its headquarters is in San Mateo. (Source: Snowflake)

As of January 31, 2019, Snowflake’s annual turnover was 96.7 million U.S. dollars, a year later it was 264.7 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 174%. In the first six months of the current fiscal year, it reached $242 million, an increase of 133% over the first half of fiscal 2019. Regarding its net loss, Snowflake warned: “We have a history of operating losses and may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability in the future.” In the fiscal years ending January 2019 and January 2020, the company’s net losses were US$178 million and US$348.5 million, respectively. From February to the end of July 2020, its net loss was US$171.3 million (US$177.2 million in the same period last year). The SaaS publisher stated: “As of January 31, 2020 and July 31, 2020, our accumulated deficits were US$700.3 million and US$871.6 million, respectively.” The company predicts that these costs and expenses will be in the coming months. Will increase. He explained: “We intend to continue to invest a lot of resources to further develop our platform and expand our sales, marketing and professional service teams.”

From Bob Muglia to Frank Slootman

In May 2019, Snowflake CEO and Microsoft veteran Bob Muglia passed the baton to Frank Slootman, former CEO of ServiceNow. Then, this transition is considered the prelude to the upcoming IPO. The issuer’s board of directors emphasized the role played by Bob Muglia, and “his unremitting efforts and his involvement” built the company’s business and reputation during his five years in office. The former CEO holds 3.3% of the company, Frank Slootman holds 5.9%, and co-founder Benoît Dageville holds 3.4%. In total, the 13 members of the management team account for 33.8% of the capital. Among investors, Sutter Hill Ventures (Michael Speiser) is Snowflake’s major shareholder fund with a 20.3% stake, followed by Altimeter Partners Fund (14.8%), Iconiq Strategic Partners (13.8%), and Redpoint Ventures (9%) ) And Sequoia Capital Growth Fund (8.4%). The IPO was led by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.