? IPO
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San Francisco-based video game engine developer Unity Software Inc. filed for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “U” on August 24, 2020
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Unity plans to raise $100m. The purpose of IPO is to increase market cap and liquidity, improve financial flexibility for general corporate purposes, and partially repay the outstanding $125m of indebtedness
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The final sum may change during the listing process.
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There are 11 underwriters in the deal, with Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse acting as lead book-running managers
? Contributors’ Notes
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InvestGame: Why does Unity raise only $100m with its latest known valuation of over $6B? The free-float ratio will be probably below 2%
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Eric Kress : Unity may not need more than $100m at IPO (InvestGame notes: As of June 30, 2020 the company has $453m Cash and $124m Debt). It is possible that Unity wants first of all to establish a true market price before diluting existing holders.
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Joakim Achren: It can be that Unity is going with the trends of the direct listing. Unity doesn’t need that much cash. Its’ majority shareholders don’t want to dilute the existing share base too much, but what is most importantly, minority shareholders want liquidity and to avoid a lockup agreement.
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InvestGame: Is it a good time to make IPO for such a software company as Unity? On one hand – definitely yes, because of COVID and growing popularity of engine and gaming industry, which is the core revenue driver. But on the other hand, Unity is making losses since its inception …
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Joakim Achren: I personally think, that it’s a good time, because a) they’ve been planning this for a while and people/executives wants some liquidity; b) the volatility isn’t as bad as people thought it would be, when COVID-19 was just starting
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InvestGame: When does Silver Lake and Sequoia Capital plan to exit?
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Joakim Achren: No idea, but I would suspect that they will look forward to seeing Unity go over $10bn and beyond. They can return their funds by selling some of their stake, but no need to cash out immediately.
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? Unity Acquisitions
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Unity has been very active in scaling its business and acquiring businesses worldwide. The company has spent around $194m in cash and $34m in stock for strategic acquisitions over 2018-2019. The largest acquisitions are:
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In January 2019, acquired 100% of Mercer Road Corporation (“Vivox”), provider of cross-platform voice and text communication tools, for $119m in cash and $4m of common stock
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In September 2019, acquired 100% of deltaDNA, provider of analytics, messaging and ad campaign management tools, for $33m in cash and $20m of common stock
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In December 2019, acquired 100% of Artomatix, provided of AI and machine learning powered tools, for $39m in cash and $10m of common stock
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In April 2020, Unity acquired 100% of Finger Food Studios Inc., creator of developer applications incl. AR/VR technologies, for total consideration of $47m payable in $24m cash and $23m of common stock
? Products
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Unity Software is a developer of the world’s leading game engine, that is widely used for the creation of three-dimensional, two-dimensional, VR/AR games and other interactive experiences
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Unity generates revenue through 3 primary business divisions
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Operate Solutions — offering content monetization functionality and end-user acquisition optimization with revenue-share and usage-based monetization models
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Create Solutions — used to create interactive 2D and 3D content with monthly subscriptions
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Strategic Partnerships and Other
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? Unity In Numbers
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1.5m monthly active creators
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50%+ mobile, PC, console games made with Unity
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3B+ app downloads per month
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15k+ new projects made per day
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20+ platforms supported by Unity, including Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and other
? Financial Performance
In 2019, Unity reported $542m Revenue (40%+ y-o-y growth) while showing $163m loss.
Unity has experienced net losses in each period since inception.
92% of customers contributing more than $100,000 in trailing 12-month revenue were from gaming industry.
? Previous Financing Rounds
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The largest shareholders of Unity are venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and private-equity fund Silver Lake Partners holding together ~42%
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Unity’s share price demonstrates strong growth since series A round
Unity’s valuation has shong strong growth over the last years. The latest known valuation was over $6B in Series E funding round.
SOURCES: SEC.GOV
