It's getting to the point where even if you don't have a child under the age of 15, you should know who MrBeast is. The North Carolinian Jimmy Donaldson's MrBeast channel has over 450 million YouTube subscribers - more than any other YouTube channel - making him arguably the most successful social media star ever. So it made sense when at the DealBook Summit, reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin asked MrBeast and Jeff Housenbold, CEO of Beast Industries, about going public. "You want to have an IPO at some point, I imagine," said Sorkin.
When Kim Min-seok gave the go-ahead in June 2016 to publish a 90-second clip of a children's song, he had no idea what he was unleashing. It became a global phenomenon, clocking up more than 16 billion views - YouTube's most watched video ever. That song was the incredibly catchy Baby Shark. Not only has it captivated toddlers and terrorised adults around the world, it laid the foundations for its creator Pinkfong to become a media business worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Klook, a Hong Kong- and Singapore-based travel booking company, is filing for an initial public offering in New York, showing that despite the events of the past year, the U.S. remains a top listing destination for Asian companies. The company, founded in 2014 by Ethan Lin and Eric Gnock Fah, claims to be the largest experience booking platform in Asia by gross transaction volume, with 65 million experiences booked in the twelve months ending Sept. 30. In its IPO prospectus, Klook revealed that it generated $417.1 million in revenue in 2024, a 24% increase. Yet the company isn't profitable, losing $99.3 million last year.
Armis, a nine-year-old cybersecurity startup based out of San Francisco, intends to follow in these companies' footsteps. The company said on Wednesday that it has raised a $435 million pre-IPO round led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives. CapitalG made a significant investment in the round, and new investor Evolution Equity Partners also participated. The round values Armis at $6.1 billion, a meaningful jump from the $4.5 billion tender offer valuation the startup announced in August.
Ensemble Health, a major player in healthcare revenue management, is seeking a potential $13 billion sale or IPO next year, Business Insider has learned. Ensemble, owned primarily by private equity firms Warburg Pincus and Berkshire Partners, has tapped JPMorgan to pursue a sale, five people with knowledge of the deal told Business Insider. At the same time, Ensemble is considering an IPO and has pulled in Goldman Sachs to support the dual-track approach, three of the people said.
Electric aviation startup Beta Technologies has priced shares for its initial public offering between $27 and $33, in hopes of raising as much as $825 million, according to a regulatory document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. If the company attracts investors at the top of that range it will debut with a valuation of about $7.2 billion.
In a development born of the government shutdown, the SEC announced Thursday that companies can proceed with IPOs using an obscure automatic approval process, now with the added bonus of skipping pricing information entirely. What's happening is that with 90% of SEC staff furloughed, startups can file their paperwork and have it automatically become effective after 20 days. This option always existed; firms just rarely use it because they prefer having SEC reviewers actually look at their disclosures before going public.
Wealthfront Corporation was founded 17 years ago, in 2008. It is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, and is led by CEO David Fortunato. The company is one of a number of fintech firms that operate in the robo-advisor space. It offers a financial platform and dedicated smartphone app that allow users to invest in various assets, including stocks and bonds. The company also offers cash accounts and automated index investing.
As the rise of artificial intelligence continues, companies operating in this space or relying on the technology are finding that they have two inextricable needs: data centers that can run and process the AI, and access to ample energy to power those vast data centers. One new company, Fermi America, aims to offer solutions for both these needs. And this week, Fermi announced its plans for an upcoming initial public offering and dual stock listings.
Blockchain lender Figure Technology is the latest crypto company to go public. On Thursday, Figure debuted on the Nasdaq after raising $787.5 million in its IPO. The company's shares listed at $25 but soared almost 30% to trade at $32 Thursday afternoon. That means the company, whose ticker is FIGR, is trading at about a $6 billion valuation. Founded in 2018, Figure's business centers around putting mortgages on the blockchain, which the company says speeds up the granting and funding of home loans.
