SurveyMonkey has this week filed for its IPO on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Documents filed with the SEC listed the fundraising target at $100 million, but the survey SaaS giant has yet to set a share price range. Recent financing from Tiger Global, ICONIQ and Social+Capital Partnership valued the company at $2 billion, despite 1H’18 reports showing net losses of $27.18 million (a 43% increase from the same period the previous year) on $121 million in revenue (a 13.6% increase from the same period the previous year). J.P. Morgan is listed as lead underwriter for the IPO.
In digital marketing news, Google has introduced an “ad strength” indicator with reporting capabilities for responsive search ads. The effectiveness of a given ad campaign will now be visible when advertisers launch responsive search ads. A new column will be added to the Google ad interface measuring relevance, quality and diversity of ad copy beginning in early September of this year, and will become available for responsive display in the coming months.
The e-commerce world saw Amazon’s stock surpass $2,000 per share for the first time ever just after market open yesterday. Following Apple’s recent trillion-dollar valuation, this milestone means that Amazon only has to gain $30 on its peak share price of $2,020 in order to match Apple’s record market cap. This high follows the stock’s gain of 3.2% after Morgan Stanley analysts raised their 12-month price target on Amazon to $2,500 from $1,850, implying a 25.1% upside from Wednesday’s close.
New in SaaS listings this week we have a $1.27M enterprise weather forecasting systems business, with over a decade of operational history, an authoritative and well-known brand, extensive database integrations and UI capabilities allowing for accurate and intuitive weather-tracking information, notable customer base with the software featured in several global digital publications, free user base of tens of thousands of customers and low owner involvement. Also listed in SaaS businesses this week we have a $121K B2B project management and collaboration business, with years of operational history in the niche, well-built and sticky product with multiple essential features, strong SaaS metrics driving a high LTV of c.$1,120 over the past year, a new GitHub Enterprise product created and ready to promote and a lean and scalable cost structure allowing for high and stable margins.
New in digital products listings this week we have $939K digital marketing education business with a leading presence in the niche and years of operational history, rapid growth with revenues reaching a c.34% CAGR for the 2016 to (e)2018 period, over 150,000 students with thousands of five-star reviews, multiple best-selling courses on Udemy and revenues diversified across multiple platforms. If you are interested in any of the above businesses, please follow the links to request a prospectus.
In events news, next week Founder Thomas Smale will be attending Hypergrowth on September 4, as well as INBOUND from September 4-7 in Boston, where FE will be co-hosting an INBOUND event on September 4th. Please sign up now to secure your spot!
Finally, FE has secured an exclusive offer with NeverBounce to get a 50% credit bonus when signing up via this landing page through the end of August and 25% bonus by the end of September. Be sure not to miss out if email marketing is a big part of your marketing strategy in Q4!
Continue reading below for more on SurveyMonkey’s IPO, Google Ads’ new strength monitor and Amazon’s record stock price.
Listings
New
SaaS – Enterprise Weather Forecasting Systems – $36K MRR
- Over a decade of operational history, leading to an authoritative and well-known brand
- Extensive database integrations and UI capabilities allowing for accurate and intuitive weather-tracking information
- Notable customer base with the software featured in several global digital publications
- Free user base of tens of thousands of customers, creating lucrative upsell opportunities
- Low owner involvement, high margins, and attractive SaaS metrics with low churn and high LTV
Yearly net profit: $316,000
Asking price: $1,269,000
Digital Products – Digital Marketing Education – $27K gross/mo
- Early presence in the niche with years of operational history leading to an authoritative and well-known brand
- Rapid growth with revenues reaching a c.34% CAGR for the period 2016 to (e)2018
- Over 150,000 students with thousands of five-star reviews
- Multiple best-selling courses on Udemy
- Revenues diversified across multiple platforms, including a branded website
Yearly net profit: $320,000
Asking price: $939,000
SaaS – B2B Project Management & Collaboration – $4.9K MRR
- Authoritative brand with years of operational history in the niche
- Well-built and sticky product with multiple essential features
- Strong SaaS metrics driving a high LTV of c.$1,120 over the past year
- GitHub Enterprise product created but not promoted
- Lean and scalable cost structure allowing for high and stable margins
Yearly net profit: $36,000
Asking price: $121,000
Sold
Affiliate – Lifestyle & Home Appliances – $3.3K gross/mo
Display Advertising – Home & Lifestyle – $2.2K gross/mo
Software – B2B Image Conversion – $1.1K gross/mo
In The News…
SurveyMonkey Files for Nasdaq IPO
SurveyMonkey has filed for an IPO on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Currently, the company has $100 million listed as the target fundraising amount, though there is a chance this is a placeholder amount as no share prices have yet been set. The SaaS giant’s $2 billion valuation is most recently driven by financing from Tiger Global ($250 million), ICONIQ Capital and Social+Capital Partnership. Speculation of a SurveyMonkey IPO has occurred for years now, as the company is 19 and filed confidentially with the SEC in June of this year. SurveyMonkey remains not-profitable, recently reporting 1H’18 results at a net loss of $27.18 million on $121 million in revenue. 2017 saw SurveyMonkey experience a $24 million net loss on $219 million in revenue, though still managed to raise around $600 million across several rounds of equity funding. One of its top investors, Tiger Global, owns a 29.3% pre-IPO stake.
SurveyMonkey will list under the ticker SVMK.
Google Ads Introduces ‘Ad Strength’ Indicator
Google has recently announced updated to allow advertisers greater clarity on the effectiveness of ads.
The search engine giant has encouraged advertisers to launch at least three ads per ad group and responsive ads are intended to assist with reaching this milestone. Stressing the necessity of ads to be “diverse” in order to accurately test, the philosophy is that ads would be able to generate more impressions and clicks for a given ad group. Ad copy should be diversified beyond simply changing taglines. Rather, the make-up of the ads should be different enough to test response to the overall style of the advertisement. A new column will appear on the ad interface measuring relevance, quantity and diversity of responsive search ads’ copy, and will offer suggestions like “Add more headlines” depending on its score from “Poor” t “Excellent.” The indicator ranges from “Poor” to “Excellent” and provides suggestions such as “Add more headlines.”
The new column will appear in the ad creation interface beginning in early September for responsive search ads and in the coming months for responsive display ads.
Amazon Surpasses $2,000 in PPS
Amazon’s stock price broke $2,000 per share shortly after market open Thursday, rising more than 1% during morning trade to above $2,020
This peak stock price represents a major milestone in the stock’s climb given that at $2,020, Amazon is onl $30 per share away from matching Apple’s $1 trillion market valuation. Amazon’s record stock price comes just one day after the stock rose 3.2% following a bullish call by Morgan Stanley. Analysts increased the amazon’s 12-month price target from $1,850 to $2,500, making it the highest target price on Wall Street. Of the increase, analyst Brian Nowak said in a note to clients, “We have increasing confidence that Amazon’s rapidly growing, increasingly large, high margin revenue streams (advertising, AWS, subscriptions) will drive higher profitability and continued upward estimate revisions.”
Amazon shares have increased steadily this year and have more than doubled in the past 12 months.