Australian retailer Kogan seeks to raise $50 million with IPO
UPDATE: July 7, 2016, 1:49 p.m. AEST Kogan was officially admitted to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) Thursday, listing under the code KGN.
Shares were issued at an offer price of A$1.80 per share, but slipped to A$1.55 hours after debut. The company forecasts revenue from sales of A$241.2 million in the 2017 financial year.
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Almost 10 years after it was founded, Australian online retailer Kogan formally announced its intention to go public Thursday.
The initial public offering (IPO) aims to raise at least A$50 million, with a market capitalisation value of A$168 million (US$126 million). According to a letter to investors from founder and CEO Ruslan Kogan, who created the company when he was only 23, the company has never taken any external equity funding.
"I am incredibly proud of Kogan.com's track record and I believe this sets us apart from our peers," Kogan wrote. "It also speaks volumes about our culture, which is underscored by high levels of personal responsibility, and demonstrates the strength and sustainability of our business."
The company aims to begin trading on the Australian stock exchange on June 30. Kogan and the company's COO and CFO David Shafer will keep hold of approximately 69.2 percent of Kogan.com after going public.
Starting out selling LCD televisions direct from manufacturer to consumer, the company claims to now have around 621,300 unique customers per year.
According to Kogan's statement, funds raised at the IPO will go toward growth and marketing. In 2015, the company added two new verticals to the site: Kogan Travel, which sells travel packages, and Kogan Mobile, which offers mobile phone plans. It also bought the online assets of defunct electronics retailer, Dick Smith, in April, including a 1.3 million subscriber database.
While Kogan acknowledges it has a broad range of competitors in its prospectus, including eBay, Amazon, JB Hi-Fi and Kmart, it believes its brand is strong enough to hold its ground.
"We haven't just built a leading online retailer, we've also built a brand that is synonymous with online retail in Australia," Kogan wrote.
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Ariel Bogle was an associate editor with Mashable in Australia covering technology. Previously, Ariel was associate editor at Future Tense in Washington DC, an editorial initiative between Slate and New America.
