Coronavirus may have slammed the IPO window shut, but it wouldn't last for long. Vroom's monster debut only seems to be whetting bankers' and investors' appetites for initial public offerings, and reports emerged this week saying software startup Snowflake, currently valued at $12 billion, would look to make its market debut in 2020 as well.
We've already had our eye on cloud storage startup Snowflake ($PRIVATE:SNOWFLAKECOMPUTING) as a potential IPO candidate, and trackers of the San Mateo, Calif.-based startup's alternative data are familiar with its explosive growth. And, this is showing up in Snowflake's LinkedIn employee headcount chart, which we have above tracking growth. So far in 2020 staffing is up 22%.
As the company has added several hundred staffers, it also eliminated about 100 job postings, or 36%, from its peak in 2020. There is no shortage of other public tech companies, including those that made relatively recent market debuts, that curbed hiring even as their engagement and stock soared - so, likely, there's little concern to be had about this dip, especially taken with the broader data point (not shown) that job postings remain higher today than 12 months prior.
There is likely plenty of cash on hand to fuel further hiring (although, based on the increase in staffing via the LinkedIn chart, it seems like Snowflake may be nearing staffing capacity pre-IPO): backers range from mega-VCs like Sequoia and corporate venture investors like Salesforce's investment group.
An uptick in social media attention is always good news - and from tech companies to popular consumer brands, the pandemic saw a shift in behaviors that showed up in social media data. No different for Snowflake, which, in early February, began to see social media attention hit a new trajectory as more people were trapped indoors.
Maybe next, investors will need Snowflake stock - after seeing plenty of recent IPOs gain traction during the pandemic, software should be hot as long as the IPO, now that the offering window is once again reopened.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales, and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue, and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.
