Tag: Pre IPOs

Impossible Foods is an American manufacturer of plant-based artificial meat. The company was established in 2011. In 2016, the company introduced its first development, an Impossible Burger-branded artificial beef burger cutlet, which until 2019 was only supplied to restaurants. The product has received high recognition and great popularity due to the similarity of artificial minced meat cutlets with a real analogue, both in taste and physical parameters. The secret to the success of this artificial beef cutlet is its unique food technology. Impossible Foods has managed to develop a special protein (blood heme) that is similar in texture and taste to an animal. This protein was obtained from the roots of soy plants. The main problem in replacing animal heme with vegetable heme is the low content of this molecule in soy. Impossible Foods solved this problem with another technology, namely by crossing plant heme with a yeast of the species Pichia pastoris, which allowed to multiply the production of plant protein. In 2018, the FDA declared heme to be safe to eat.

Until 2019, Impossible Foods only sold its produce to restaurants. For example, the global fast food chain Burger King has launched the Impossible Whopper, Burger King’s flagship burger made from Impossible Foods. The main product of the company – Impossible Burger – is already sold in 9 thousand restaurants and is a hit in many of them. Since 2019, the company has increased its revenue by 50% due to the expansion of supplies to supermarkets and the improvement of the product line. Over the past year, Impossible began selling its products at 1,700 Kroger-affiliated stores, 2,000 Walmart stores and 1,200 Publix stores throughout the United States. In May 2020, the company began active sales of its products through digital channels.

In May 2021, Impossible Foods began shipping its produce to school canteens. This is definitely great news, as in order to enter into contracts with educational institutions, the company’s products had to pass examination and quality control by the Food and Nutrition Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. This is likely the final step the company is taking to expand its presence and generate interest in plant-based meat from its own production. By delivering its products to schools, Impossible Foods builds loyalty among a young audience that is concerned about environmental pollution. Impossible Foods says its primary goal is to attract meat lovers, rather than vegetarianism, to its products to help reduce the environmental impact of beef and other meats.

According to various estimates, the global meat market can be estimated at $ 1.4 billion. Currently, the alternative meat industry occupies only 1% and is estimated at $ 14 million. According to experts, in 2029 the share of artificial meat in the total meat market may exceed 10% even without considering growth of the industry as a whole. Impossible Foods’ main competitor is Beyond Meat (BYND), which went public in 2019. On the first day of trading, the company’s shares more than doubled. The company’s value at that time was estimated at $ 3.4 billion. Now BYND’s capitalization is $ 7.8 billion. Since the IPO, BYND shares have grown by 400%.

Impossible Foods raised $ 1.6 billion in 16 investment rounds. The last round took place in August 2020, and at that time the company was valued at $ 4.1 billion. Thus, the capitalization of Impossible Foods was almost 2 times lower than that of Beyond Meat. Among the key investors in Impossible Foods, one can distinguish both world-famous venture funds such as Google Ventures, Horizon Ventures or UBS, as well as popular personalities – Katy Perry, Jaden Smith, Jay-Z and Bill Gates have already invested in the company.

The main risk of investing in a company is competition with traditional meat producers. The largest global players will make every effort to prevent the expansion of the market share of alternative meat, including through lobbying mechanisms. However, the uniqueness of Impossible Foods’ technologies, combined with the global environmental agenda, will help the company find its market niche and steadily expand it through massive consumer acceptance.

‍

Rubrik is an American privately held company offering cloud-based solutions for protecting, storing, exchanging and analyzing data. The platform, developed by the company, brings together the solution to all the major data management problems faced by corporate clients. Typically, these problems include leakage, partial or complete loss of information, and lack of optimization and integration.

Rubrik was founded in 2014. During its operational activities, the company was able to raise more than $ 550 million in 6 investment rounds. In the last round, which took place in January 2019, the company raised $ 261 million and was valued at $ 3.36 billion. The main investors of the company are Bain Capital Ventures (one of the main investors of LinkedIn), Greylock Partners (invested in Facebook, Instagram) and IVP (invested on Twitter, Uber, Netflix). The company employs over 1.6 thousand people in more than 18 countries around the world.

In December 2020, the company expanded its unstructured data management capabilities with the Igneous IP solution and launched the Andes 5.3 application, which allows corporate customers to modernize their IT infrastructure, automate operational processes, and reduce the risks of moving to the cloud. At the end of 2020, Rubrik entered the TOP 10 companies in the Forbes Cloud 100 list. Rubrik was also recognized as the “client’s choice for backup and recovery solutions for data centers” according to the Gartner Peer Insights methodology in 2021.

Rubrik reported that its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended March 31, 2021, was the best in the company’s history in terms of financial results. The company currently serves 3,200 customers around the world, with more than 200 customers using the company’s package of services, which costs more than $ 1 million. According to a press release, Rubrik discusses the largest Fortune 100 companies, for example, three of four companies from the telecommunications sector, two of five companies from the defense industry, two companies from three in the retail sector, one of three companies from the healthcare sector and four companies from six from the insurance sector. By the end of 2020, the company was able to switch to an annual subscription of almost 70% of its customers, which is a positive factor for the financial profile, allowing it to generate more predictable cash flows.

Cloud solutions are increasingly penetrating everyday life. The global market for cloud technologies was estimated at $ 371 billion as of 2020, but by 2025 its volume, according to analysts’ forecasts, may exceed $ 800 billion. According to IDC estimates, total corporate spending in the data management market is $ 48 billion. The rapidly growing market of cloud solutions is attracting the attention of many players, therefore, there is a high level of competition in this area, which, perhaps, is the main risk for the company. However, Rubrik has a unique and innovative platform that allows you to manage all your data stores from one place. The platform also allows you to optimize data storage processes by removing duplicate data, and to identify information leaks and potential cyber threats using artificial intelligence algorithms. Rubrik uses a “self-learning system” that, according to management, can search for data in a variety of computing environments and make it available through a central hub. Rubrik’s closest competitor is Cohesity, which is also planning an IPO.

Rubrik maintains a strong market position in the cloud solutions sector. We believe that geographic diversification of operating activities will strengthen the company’s market position. According to the press release, the funds raised in the last round were directed to finance geographic expansion. Rubrik actively invests in new product development, including cybersecurity products. Among the new solutions of companies may be new blockbusters, which will significantly improve the financial profile. In addition, it is worth noting the company’s partnership with the largest IT companies from the United States, such as Microsoft, Cisco, AWS, SAP, Nutanix, Oracle, VMware, Google Cloud, Pure Storage and others. Rubrik software will run in the cloud (including Oracle Cloud, Office 365, Azure and AWS), virtual environments (using Hyper-V, Nutanix, and VMware) and physical systems (using Windows, SQL Server, NAS , SAP HANA and Epic Cache). Joint projects can help a company grow its customer base and increase cash flows through cross-selling. The company held its last investment round in January 2019. The share price was $ 23.55, which corresponds to a capitalization of $ 3.36 billion.

‍

Eat Just is an American privately owned company that manufactures alternative plant-based foods. The company was founded in California in 2011. The main and most famous product is the artificial eggs Just Egg, which are made from mung bean, a legume native to Asia. Just Egg is sold in two formats: liquid as beaten eggs in 350 ml bottles, and frozen Just Egg Folded, which look like sliced ​​omelette. Eat Just is also involved in the production of artificial meat. Based on the synthesis of animal cells, the company produces alternative chicken meat and products from it, mainly semi-finished products. The company also makes protein-based sauces such as mayonnaise or tartar. The uniqueness of Eat Just eggs is that they do not contain cholesterol, unlike eggs of animal origin, with a practically comparable protein content. The main target group of Eat Just are vegans, and according to VeganBits, there are now about 75 million of them in the world.

Eat Just currently sells its products through more than 20 thousand points of sale around the world. Just Egg and Just Egg Folded are sold in many American supermarket chains such as Walmart, Whole Foods, Safeway, Kroger and others. According to research firm SPINS, the US market for herbal substitutes for animal products grew by an average of 11% last year alone. $ 5 billion. However, the growth figures for the vegetable egg sector are more impressive, the volume of which grew by 192% in 2019 and reached $ 30 million. Outside the United States, products are presented in the Hong Kong market and in China. Asia is the most promising market for the company. According to Research and Market analysis, Asia consumes 64% of the world’s eggs. In 2021, the company plans to enter the European market. According to research by ING, the sector of plant-based alternatives to animal products is growing in Europe by 10% annually and by 2025 the market size will reach $ 7.5 billion.

Eat Just alternative meat products are sold through a partner network with foodpanda, one of the leaders in the Asian food delivery market. In December 2020, the company received permission to sell alternative chicken meat in Singapore. This is the first time in the world that this country allows the sale of foreign goods of this type on its territory. Entering the Singaporean market will allow Eat Just to increase its market share as well as gain consumer confidence in neighboring countries. In 2022, Eat Just plans to begin construction on its first Asian plant in Singapore.

In the market for alternative eggs, Eat Just is the undisputed leader. The only competitor is the Israeli manufacturer Zero Egg, which is significantly inferior in terms of business scale and business recognition. In the segment of vegetable meat, competition is more significant. Companies like Impossible Foods, the publicly traded Beyond Meat and the Bill Gates-backed Memphis Meat have improved technology and are more competitive in the plant-based meat market. Nevertheless, the market for alternative meat has good prospects for long-term growth and Eat Just has every chance of conquering its niche. Barclays analysts estimate the current market for vegetable meat at $ 14 billion, but by 2029 its scale may increase to $ 140 billion.

Eat Just’s revenue has yet to be disclosed to the market, but CEO and co-founder Josh Tetrick said the company had already sold 60 million plant eggs and could start earning money this year. Eat Just raised $ 440 million in 16 investment rounds. The last round took place in June 2021. The most famous investors in the company are Vulcan Capital, Qatar Investment Authority, HH VC Investments. At the moment, the company’s capitalization is $ 1.3 – $ 2 billion. However, Josh Tetrick is not satisfied with such levels. The head noted that the company plans to enter the IPO with an estimate of at least $ 3 billion.

‍

Reddit is an online social platform created in 2005 that allows users to create content and discuss topics of interest. Today Reddit is made up of a huge number of forums. Users called Redditors can share opinions, news and discussions with each other. Posts are open to the entire Reddit community to vote either by pressing the up button or against. There are over 130 thousand different sub-forums and communities called subreddits. Posts on the site are categorized by topics such as random, gadgets, sports, games, pictures, videos, music, funny, movies, books, history, food, philosophy, television, jokes, art, and more.

Recently, Reddit has become famous for the WallStreetBets subreddit, in which retail investors collectively discuss highly speculative investments in stocks for the purpose of short-term appreciation or pumping. The most famous stories are the soaring capitalization of GameStop, AMC, Kodak, Bed Bath & Beyond, Nokia and Virgin Galactic. Reddit is currently the 19th most visited website on the internet, with the number of registered users growing steadily over the past few years. In October 2020, Reddit had 52 million daily users, up 44% from a year ago. According to Statista, the total number of active users as of July this year was 430 million.

Reddit makes most of its money from advertising. In the second quarter of this year, advertising revenue was $ 100 million, which is almost three times more than in the same period last year. Earlier this year, Reddit said it plans to double its headcount by the end of 2021 to approximately 1,400 employees. More recently, Reddit recruited Drew Vollero as CFO, who previously held a leadership position at parent company Snapchat, overseeing their move to the public market. SNAP raised $ 3.4 billion during its 2017 IPO. The company then hired former Instagram executive Timo Peltz, Laura Nestler from Duolingo, and Allison Miller from Bank of America.

In mid-August, Reddit announced that the company had raised $ 410 million in an F round of investment led by Fidelity Investments. During this round, Reddit plans to raise an additional $ 290 million from existing investors and possibly new investors. In round F, the company was valued at $ 10 billion, compared with $ 6 billion in the previous investment round held in February last year for $ 410 million. Reddit plans to use the proceeds to fund geographic expansion and site development. In just 7 investment rounds, Reddit raised $ 1.3 billion. Among the company’s largest investors are Sequoia Capital, Tencent Holdings and Andreessen Horowitz.

It’s worth noting that some of Reddit’s competitors are currently trading at their highs. Over the past 12 months, Facebook has grown by more than 39%, Twitter shares have gained 63%, and Snap has more than tripled its capitalization (+ 226%). By comparison, the Nasdaq 100 rose 41% over the same period. Amid an ultra-soft monetary policy, a favorable environment is emerging for companies from the technology sector. From September to the end of the calendar year, many companies are looking to go public to raise capital as they move into the new year. It is expected that the market valuation of Reddit at the time of listing on the exchange could be more than $ 15 billion.