(Reuters) – Tencent Holdings Ltd-backed Amplitude said on Wednesday it had confidentially filed paperwork for a direct listing in the United States, just a month after a funding round valued the analytics startup at $4 billion.
Founded in 2012 and also backed by Sequoia Capital and Singapore’s GIC, Amplitude helps companies optimize their products by analyzing which features translate to better business outcomes.
The San Francisco-based firm’s customers include Comcast-owned media company NBCUniversal, payments processor PayPal Holdings Ltd, fitness products maker Peloton Interactive Inc and grocery delivery firm Instacart.
Companies have bolstered their digital presence and online product offerings due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to increased demand for companies like Amplitude.
Amplitude, which has quadrupled its valuation since May last year, said last month revenue for fiscal 2020 had jumped 50%.
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Spenser Skates has long been a proponent of direct listings, where companies are allowed to list on the stock market without selling shares.
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc and gaming platform Roblox Corp went public earlier this year through that route, which advocates argue is a better way to price shares than a traditional initial public offering.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)
