Best Route for Going Public? Privately, Say Ad Tech CEOs
Twitter’s announcement last week that it had confidentially filed to go public put a spotlight on a practice that has become the status quo, especially among ad tech companies seeking public funds.
The three major ad tech companies to go public this year — online advertising software provider Marin Software and video ad networks Tremor Video and YuMe — each confidentially filed their pre-IPO papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission. And those are far from the only companies to use a provision of last year’s Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act that permits companies with less than $1 billion in annual revenue to secretly submit their filings to the SEC for review.
Automated ad buying company Rocket Fuel filed confidentially, per sources, before making those filings available last month as required for a company about to proceed with going public. Display ad retargeting firm Criteo has also filed its pre-IPO documents confidentially, Ad Age previously reported.
