Investors, including Qualcomm Ventures, SoftBank Capital, SVB Financial and Sapphire Ventures – formerly SAP Ventures, made huge paper gains in the immediate aftermath of FitBit’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange, with shares initially priced at $20 each, surging 20% on their first day of trading and almost doubling in value within a week.
At the close of the IPO, the company was valued at $841m having reported full-year net income in March 2015 of $132m from revenues of around $745m. SoftBank Capital sold 825,000 shares in the offering, generating a cash return of $16.5m while retaining 9.3 million shares, equal to a 5.7% stake.
Qualcomm Ventures sold almost 170,000 shares for approximately $3.4m but retained 3.2 million shares or a 2% stake. At the time of the IPO, this meant that Qualcomm had made paper returns in excess of its entire $100m Life Fund. Speaking to Global Corporate Venturing last year, Jack Young, who ran Qualcomm’s Life Fund before his move this year to Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners, said: “Fitbit’s remarkable growth is a demonstration of strong consumer interests in digital health and wearable products. Venture investors who believed in the company were rewarded handsomely, thanks to the founders and management team who have been vigilant in capital management while building an exceptional brand and solid business. The success of the Fitbit IPO is a boon to digital health that is likely to attract more talents and investments to the field.”
Fitbit’s wristbands allow users to track multiple aspects of their health and daily activity, from changes in heart rate to the number of steps walked or the time spent asleep. They have been embraced by health-conscious consumers who are keen to use such insights to set fitness goals as well as improve general health.
The company has just launched the Fitbit Blaze, essentially a smartwatch to rival the Apple Watch, which was launched last year and which offers many of the health-tracking functions that have been available to Fitbit customers.
But despite the entry of Apple into its market, Fitbit’s existing products have continued to sell well.
In February this year, the firm reported that full-year revenues more than doubled in 2015 to $1,858m with net income of almost $178m and more than 21m connected devices sold. Fitbit expects revenues to increase by around a third in 2016, driven by sales of the Blaze as well as the recently launched Fitbit Alta device.
Woody Scal, chief business officer of Fitbit, said: “At Fitbit, we continue to focus on developing innovative and motivating fitness-first products that our customers love and that help them achieve their health and fitness goals
“The positive response we have received to Blaze and Alta demonstrates our continued ability to innovate and drive strong demand for Fitbit products, which is what has made and kept us the leader in the global wearables category.”
