In the lead up to popular website builder and web hosting company Squarespace’s decision to go public later this month, the company has registered 40,401,820 Class A shares for its recently announced direct listing.
The company has been approved to list its Class A common stock on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “SQSP”.
Squarespace will not be raising fresh capital with the offering but its stockholders will have the option to sell or not sell their shares, according to a recent filing.
In March, Squarespace was valued at almost $10 billion and welcomed a number of new backers including Dragoneer, Tiger Global, D1 Capital Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. and Spruce House.
Squarespace held its very first Investor Day on May 3, 2021, during which the company unveiled its Q1 2021 revenue hit $180 million, which was an increase of 31% over the same quarter last year.
Company founder and CEO Anthony Casalena mentioned that Squarespace was one of those nascent ideas that has now matured into a company that changed his life and the life of so many other people.
Direct listing
Squarespace is not the only company that has opted for a direct listing over a traditional initial public offering (IPO) this year.
Cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase and gaming platform Roblox both chose to go public via a direct listing, with Coinbase listing its shares on the Nasdaq and Roblox on the NYSE.
Squarespace revealed in the prospectus that it has listed 14 investment banks that are working as advisors. Among those 14 banks, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Securities, Barclays Capital, and RBC Capital Markets are among the financial advisers for the listing.
