Fintech

Digital Commerce Platform VTEX Gives Itself a $3.2bn US IPO Price Ticket

Investors were also tense ahead of the US consumer price report due on Wednesday where only a slight easing in inflation is forecast, and certainly nothing to prevent the Federal Reserve from hiking by at least 50 basis points in June. Photo: AFP.

The Latin American start-up, which can count the Japanese tech, energy and fintech investor SoftBank as one of its major supporters, has customers in more than 30 countries, including Sony, Nestle and McDonald’s

Softbank-backed digital commerce platform VTEX is targeting a valuation of up to $3.2 billion in its US initial public offering (IPO), it announced on Monday.

The Brazilian company’s offering would consist of 19 million Class A common shares priced between $15 and $17 each. At the top end of the range, the IPO would fetch $323 million.

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About 5.1 million of those shares are being offered by the selling shareholders, the proceeds of which will not go to the company, VTEX said.

Planning to list on the New York Stock Exchange, VTEX is the latest highly valued start-up from Latin America looking to cash in on a record run in US capital markets.

Brazilian fintech Nubank, payments company Ebanx and General Atlantic-backed Hotmart are also preparing for US listings in the coming months.

US EXPANSION

VTEX started its operations in Brazil in 2000, set up its first overseas office in 2013 and expanded into the United States in 2017. Its platform allows customers to execute their commerce strategy, including building online stores and managing orders.

The company has customers in over 32 countries, including Japan’s Sony Corp, Nestle and McDonald’s Corp.

It was valued at $1.7 billion after a funding round in September and also counts Tiger Global, Lone Pine Capital and Constellation among its investors.