Revolve Raises $212 Million in IPO

CERRITOS, California — Online fashion retailer Revolve Group Inc. raised $212 million after pricing its shares at the top of its targeted range in its initial public offering

Revolve said in a statement that it sold 11.8 million shares Thursday for $18 each, after marketing them for $16 to $18 apiece. The company is valued in the IPO at more than $1.23 billion based on the outstanding shares as listed in its filings.

The offering follows September’s listing by luxury clothing platform Farfetch Ltd., which raised $855 million in its US IPO. This year, three other e-commerce companies have gone public in the US, raising a combined $471 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s amid a surge of higher-profile listings including Uber Technologies Inc.’s $8.1 billion IPO in May. Overall, 74 companies have now raised $26.83 billion so far this year in US listings, the data shows.

Revolve focuses on millennial customers, the generation that’s currently in their mid-20s to late-30s, according to its prospectus. It attracts many of its customers through its own Instagram account with more than 5.5 million followers, and through a network of more than 3,500 influencers — users with large followings on social media — and social events.

Profitable

The company, based in Cerritos, California, is profitable, earning $31 million on sales of $499 million last year, up from net income of $5.3 million on sales of almost $400 million in 2017. Revolve said in its filings.

Sales for the quarter ended March 31 rose 21 percent to $137 million, while net income fell 7.8 percent to $5 million. Revolve’s average order value fell to $259 for the quarter, down from $282 for the same period last year.

Only a quarter of the Class A shares issued in the IPO were sold by the company, according to the filing. The remaining $8.8 million shares were sold by current investors.

Those shares will carry one vote each, while Class B shares will have 10 votes each. That will give the Class B owners about 98 percent of the voting rights, according to the filings. MMMK Development Inc., an entity controlled by co-chief executives Michael Karanikolas and Michael Mente, will control 67 percent of the voting power.

Revolve plans to use the proceeds to buy back stock from existing stakeholders and to continue growing the company, its filing shows.

Last year, 18 percent of the company’s sales came from outside the US. Revolve cautions that expanding internationally will likely require fulfilment centres among other expenditures. The company also warns that its manufacturing operations in China could be affected by the political and economic climate there, as well as by tariffs imposed by the US government.

Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse Group AG and Bank of America Corp. are leading the offering. The shares are expected to begin trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RVLV.

By Michael Hytha and Crystal Tse; editors: Elizabeth Fournier and Michael Hytha.