Snowflake is prepping an IPO this year that could value the data warehousing startup at up to $20bn.
The company has already submitted a confidential IPO filing with the US SEC, according to the Financial Times, citing unnamed sources.
Snowflake has raised $1.4bn in VC funding, including a $479m G-series round earlier this year which priced the company at $12.4bn. Salesforce was co-lead investor.
Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman said at the time that the company was poised to turn cashflow positive this year, revenue grew by 174 per cent last year, and would soon top $1bn. Snowflake claims more than 2,000 customers.
He told the San Francisco Business Times that $12.4bn valuation could be higher following an IPO: “The reason is that our growth trajectory is so fierce and our addressable market is so large. When companies grow so fast, as Snowflake has, the valuation may seem like a big number now but not later. When I was with ServiceNow (as CEO), the valuation was $2.5bn when we went out and now it has a $65bn valuation.”
Slootman replaced CEO Bob Muglia in May 2019. At that time Blocks & Files suggested Slootman’s track record of acquisition and successful IPO-based growth must have been attractive to Snowflake’s investors looking for a great exit.
