5 Startups to Watch in 2019

There’s been plenty of fanfare surrounding Uber and Lyft ’s initial public offerings which are scheduled for early 2019 — since both these companies filed confidential IPO paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in last month. On top of that, public and private investors have plenty to say about Slack and Pinterest’s rumored 2019 IPOs. But those aren’t the only “unicorn” exits we could expect to witness this year.

As per our experts following are the startups which we can expect can go for IPO this year:

Peloton       

Peloton, aka the “Netflix of fitness,” has already raised nearly $1 billion in venture capital funding since it was founded by John Foley. Recently they raised $550 million at a $4 billion valuation. The manufacturer of tech-enabled exercise equipment is growing rapidly every year and is “weirdly profitable,” which is an unusual characteristic for a venture-backed business of its age. They are located in New York, though Foley recently told The Wall Street Journal that 2019 “makes a lot of sense” for Pelton stock market debut.

Cloudflare

Cybersecurity unicorn Cloudflare is likely to move into public markets in the first half of 2019  which is going to be a strong year for IPOs in the security industry. The web performance and security platform are preparing for an IPO at a potential valuation of more than $3.5 billion after raising capital in 2015 at a $1.8 billion valuation. Cloudflare was founded in 2009, the San Francisco-based company has raised $250 million in VC funding since then. CrowdStrike, another security unicorn, is also on track to go public, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Illumio and Lookout making the jump into the public markets, as well.

Rubrik

Data management company Rubrik has quietly made moves for their upcoming IPO. Rubrik provides data backup and recovery services for businesses across cloud and on-premises environments, hired former Atlassian executive Murray Demo as its CFO earlier this year and  Peter McGoff as its first chief legal officer, Palo Alto-based Rubrik was valued at more than $1 billion with a $180 million funding round in 2017. The company has raised nearly $300 million to date.

Zoom

Zoom is one of the biggest providers of video conferencing services, online meeting and group messaging tools has raised $160 million in VC cash to date. Now they are looking for a multi-billion dollars IPO in 2019.  They have reportedly hired Morgan Stanley to lead the offering. Founded in 2011, the company has most recently brought in a $100 million Series D financing, entirely funded by Sequoia, at a $1 billion valuation in 2017. They are based in San Jose, California, According to Reuters, Zoom is hoping to garner a valuation significantly larger than $1 billion when it IPOs.

Medallia

Medallia, a customer experience management platform which is nearly two decades old, may finally become a public company. The San Mateo, a California-based company, which has been rumored to be planning an IPO for years, hired a new CEO in the 2018 year reported $250 million in GAAP revenue for the year 2018.  According to Forbes. Medallia hasn’t raised capital since 2015 when they secured a $150 million funding deal at a $1.2 billion valuation. It has raised a total of just over $250 million till date.