Snowflake Poised to Price IPO Above Expected Range With Valuation Topping $30 Billion -- Update

By Corrie Driebusch 

Silicon Valley darling Snowflake Inc. is poised to price its IPO above its expected range on Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said, joining a frenzied initial-public-offering market as the biggest technology issue so far this year.

Strong demand for shares of the company, which offers businesses cloud-based data management, means it could price around $120 a share, people familiar with the matter said. That is above its expected price range of $100 to $110 a share. Investor hunger for a piece of a company growing at such a fast rate has pushed that price even higher, and the IPO is now likely to price above that.

If the company, which offers businesses cloud-based data management, prices its deal above range, its valuation would top $30 billion. That is more than double the $12.4 billion valuation Snowflake reached in a private funding round earlier this year, a sign of the enthusiasm surrounding U.S.-listed IPOs in 2020.

The stock is set to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SNOW on Wednesday.

Snowflake joins a flood of companies racing to the public markets this year. Through the end of last week, companies listing in the U.S. have raised more than $78 billion in their IPOs, on pace for one of the biggest money-raising years for new issues since the tech boom of 2000, according to Dealogic.

Snowflake, one of the most hotly anticipated tech offerings of the year among software and cloud-data investors, epitomizes the hunger among investors for the growth that IPOs tend to promise. With interest rates near historical lows and the Federal Reserve pouring trillions of dollars into the economy, investors are seeking places to put their money where they can get better returns.

In its last fiscal year ended in January, Snowflake's revenue grew 174% from the year before, according to a regulatory filing. Its net loss also grew during that period, and Snowflake remains unprofitable.

Adding to the hype: Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has agreed to make a concurrent $250 million investment in Snowflake, alongside current investor Salesforce Ventures LLC, Salesforce.com Inc.'s corporate investment arm, which has also pledged $250 million.

Snowflake raised its expected price range Monday, saying it now aims to sell 28 million shares at $100 to $110 apiece, according to a regulatory filing. With a valuation of more than $30 billion, Snowflake would be the second-largest company to go public in 2020 after Quicken Loans parent Rocket Cos., according to data provider Dealogic.

The San Mateo, Calif.-based company's data warehouse allows its corporate customers to share data across multiple online storage systems.

Snowflake is run by Chief Executive Frank Slootman, who is no stranger to the IPO process. In the past, he successfully steered software firm ServiceNow Inc. and data-solutions company Data Domain Inc. through IPOs when he served as CEO of each.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley are leading Snowflake's offering.

Write to Corrie Driebusch at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 15, 2020 14:59 ET (18:59 GMT)

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