Recently, the IPO (Initial Public Offering) market has become interesting to a large number of completely new investors who have not even been participants in the stock market. There is one big reason - profitability. The average return after the lock-up period is 40.5%, which corresponds to 162% annual in dollars (excluding commissions and personal income tax). In this article we will discuss the key details of the Barkbox IPO: the history of the company, when is the BarkBox IPO date, BarkBox IPO price and everything you should know to make a decision whether to invest in it or not.
BarkBox History
BarkBox is an American PetTech-startup which uses a popular subscription business model to sell toys, treats, dental chews and other goodies for dogs. It has been creating and selling products in 4 categories: Fun, Food, Health and Home.
The company has started to conquer the hearts of American dogs since 2011 where it was founded by Carly Strife, Matt Meeker, and Henrik Werdeli. Now it's headquartered in New York but delivers its products all over the States themselves or through Amazon. In April 2013, the company raised $6.7 million in venture funding. After BARK reached the goal of $25 million revenue that year, it received an additional $15 million in Series B funding. The main investor was Resolute.vc, but some other famous VCs also invested, such as RRE, BoxGroup, Lerer Ventures, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, Slow Ventures, Daher Capital, CAA, Vast Ventures, and City National Bank in 2014.
Now the company has more than 1.8 million annual active subscriptions with an average price of 30$ per box. It started with boxes with toys and treats and now provides all necessary things for dogs from the first months of life until senior years. Such a business model creates a life-long bond with customers, which makes pets happy and thus their owners satisfied.
In 2019 BARK introduced Bark Home: house essentials such as beds, collars/leashes and bowls.
In 2020 it came up with two new products:
- Bark Bright: dog dental solution and future health and wellness platform
- Bark Eats: a personalized food blend service.
2020 was an accelerating moment for BARK’s business due to the pandemic. People had to stay at home and in order not to be alone they were adopting pets and looking for e-com solutions to provide care for them. A perfect combination for BARK. The increase in money spent on gifts for pets was more than the increase in money spent on gifts for people, said a PricewaterhouseCoopers report. This led to a 58% surge in subscriptions for BARK.
To use the opportunity to the max, BarkBox hired CEO Manish Joneha, a former executive of Amazon and eBay, in September 2020 with the plans for Barkbox IPO. He brings a background of scaling businesses with consumer-centric products, technological innovation, omnichannel commerce and global expansion.
In the best tradition of the year, the company decided to go public and the first announcement was that BarkBox stock IPO date will be in December 2020, but management postponed BarkBox going public to 2021.
In the past 4 years BARK has been growing their net revenue with 36% CAGR. it's high time to announce Barkbox IPO date and price.
Barkbox’s Public Listing Key Data and IPO Date
IPO Date: June 2, 2021
Ticker: BARK
Exchange: NYSE
Share price: $10
Valuation at IPO: $2.5 billion
CEO: Manish Joneha
Category: Retail Stocks
Method: via SPAC Northern Star Acquisition Corp.
The company has chosen a non-traditional IPO. So if someone asks ‘Is BarkBox a public company’, then the answer would be yes but it’s a part of the merger. The thing is, BarkBox went public via Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC). This IPO process has become trendy in the last two years and is a popular alternative to IPO together with direct listing. SPAC companies are created for the sole purpose of merging with other private companies that wish to go public. Besides cash on the balance sheet, SPAC has no other assets. Investors are eager to buy SPAC shares, as they have huge upside potential — after the merger, the price may increase several times. So BarkBox merged with a blank-check company Northern Star Acquisition Corp.
On June 2 BARK stock jumped about 7.5% at the opening and later in the afternoon it was traded at around $12. So BarkBox IPO 2021 was considered to be successful, however...
So What About Investing Now?
Since the BarkBox stock IPO it has fallen almost 50% which is seen as a bad sign by the investors, but let’s have a look at the business.
According to Euromonitor International, the size of the global pet care market surpassed $120 billion in 2019, with spending in the U.S. growing to more than $50 billion. BarkBox’s revenue this year is estimated to be $516 million which is just 1% of the market, so there is room for growth. Take into account that the company hasn’t even started a global expansion.
Adjusted EBITDA margin is 5% better than last year,
Net revenue in 2021 has seen 56% YoY growth.
The best thing about the company is their customer-oriented personalized services and vertically-integrated business at the core.
“The Company’s loyal customer base, strong brand resonance and passionate social following create exciting opportunities to further solidify BARK as a leading global brand for dogs.” - said Executive Chairwoman and CEO of Northern Star Joanna Coles.
FAQ
When is BarkBox going public? Or is Barkbox publicly traded already?
The company has already had an IPO. It went public on Jun 2, 2021via SPAC merger with Northern Star Acquisition Corp.
How much is BarkBox worth?
The BarkBox valuation at IPO was around $2.5 billion but now its market cap is around $1.1 billion.
What does BarkBox do?
Its core business is selling boxes with toys and treats for dogs, but it has expanded to home and health supplies, too. They use a subscription-based model, so that customers and their beloved pets receive new goodies each month.
.svg)
