SurveyMonkey polls for an IPO

SurveyMonkey is inching closer to becoming a public company for giving stiff competition to online polling companies. The survey software provider has filed to raise $100 million in the stock sale under its official name Svmk Inc. The company has turned to the public after 19 years as it is unable to meet the running of its daily business activities.

SurveyMonkey, which was founded in 1999 by Ryan Finley, intends to use the proceeds to lower the tax obligations from a restricted stock unit settlement. The proceeds will also be used for working capital and general purposes including acquisitions and technological investment.

The company is planning to list its common shares under the “SVMK” ticker. Overall, the company has attracted an aggregate of over 60 million registered users to its survey platform. The number of common shares that will be outstanding immediately after this offering is based on 103.9 million common shares outstanding as of June 30, 2018.

Market experts believe that if SurveyMonkey’s IPO is successfully completed then it could give a tough competition for rest of the private polling companies like Harris Interactive, Nielsen Ratings, SurveyUSA, and Susquehanna Polling & Research.

The company had a more extensive loss in the first half of 2018 due to higher costs and expenses. SurveyMonkey has been struggling to cope with higher expenses as business investment has been increasing due to capturing of a large market opportunity. However, revenue for the first half grew by 13.6% as the company generates substantially all of its revenue from the sale of subscriptions to its products.

In 2017, SurveyMonkey generated over 90% of its revenue from sales of subscriptions to products, and over 75% of revenue was from individuals and organizations that were customers in 2016. In 2017, the company generated 35% of its revenue from customers outside of the US.

Related: Companies that have filed for IPO in August