Airbnb tops list of IPOs to watch out for in 2020

The 2020 IPO market picks up from one of the lowest years in the
history of initial public offerings. Tech unicorns such as Lyft and Uber have
been trading below their IPO prices since going public last year. WeWork, a
once vibrant space-renting company with an initial private valuation of $47
billion, ended up backing down from its planned IPO after a top
executive of the company was ejected on the grounds of gross misconduct.

But after ushering in the new decade, the market is warming up to several
hyped listings in the tech sector. Here are three IPOs to look out for in 2020:

Airbnb

Airbnb started as a couch-surfing platform and later rebranded to
a global travel booking tool. The platform’s IPO has been one of the most publicised
and is expected to be oversubscribed by a massive margin later this year.

The hotel booking platform has made a name for itself due to its
immense contribution to the global tourism sector, and according to its last
year’s third quarter report, the company’s revenue hit $4.3 billion.

Airbnb has been keen on boosting its global growth through
acquisitions and expansions, a move that might partly be responsible for its
recent losses.

The company is expected to answer some tough questions from
investors, especially now that the market is getting sceptical about investing
in loss-making companies.

To date, Airbnb has raised about $3.1 billion from venture
capitalists.

Wish

The startup has grown to become one of the renowned e-commerce tools that connect buyers and sellers from all parts of the world. Founded in 2010, Wish announced its plan to go public in 2020 through its founder Peter Szulczewski during an interview with Forbes.

As the third-largest e-commerce
platform, the company’s numbers have been raking in billions of dollars with
its 2019 third quarter report indicating a revenue of $1.9 billion.

So far, the company has raised a
total of $1.5 billion in pre-fund deals.

DoorDash

DoorDash is an on-demand food
delivery company based in San Francisco. While the company is one of the most
promising in its niche, it has been facing cut-throat competition from similar
platforms, including Postmates and Uber Eats.

DoorDash has in the past enjoyed
a few rounds of funding including a $535 million round from SoftBank. Lately, SoftBank
has been on the spotlight for all the wrong reasons after making a series of bad investments with the
most recent one being WeWork.

The firm is said to be
considering a direct listing and has so far raised about $2.1 billion from
venture capitalists.