May 29 - Liftoff Mobile, backed by Blackstone, is targeting a valuation of up to US$3.66 billion in its U.S. initial public offering, in a renewed attempt to test investor appetite in public markets after scrubbing an initial launch.
The firm’s ambition to push on with its IPO comes after it scrapped an initial attempt, as the listings market was swept up in the broad shunning of software-focused firms seen as ripe for disruption by rapid advances in artificial intelligence.
After Liftoff’s withdrawal, the market for new listings was hit with renewed jitters as sharp swings due to the Iran war weighed on the risk-on sentiment in equities. Hopes of a short-lived conflict, however, have pushed stock markets back up.
Liftoff is seeking to raise up to US$418 million by offering 19 million shares priced between US$20 and US$22 each. That compares with the up to US$762 million it hoped to raise in its previous offering.
The Redwood City, California-based company was formed when Blackstone combined its portfolio companies Liftoff and Vungle in 2021. It provides marketing and monetization tools for mobile app developers to help them acquire users and drive engagement.
Liftoff’s offering also comes on the back of SoftBank-backed PayPay’s successful debut, in which the Japanese payments app raised roughly US$880 million.
Sponsors are trying to press ahead with their plans to list portfolio companies, especially at a time of sturdy enthusiasm around bumper IPOs such as those of SpaceX and OpenAI expected later this year.
Goldman Sachs, Jefferies and Morgan Stanley are the joint lead book-running managers for the offering, after which Liftoff is looking to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker “LFTO.”
(Reporting by Utkarsh Shetti and Prakhar Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona and Shreya Biswas)
