Bullish, a crypto exchange backed by billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, is making significant strides toward its initial public offering (IPO), targeting a valuation of up to $4.23 billion.
In its latest filing, Bullish announced plans to raise approximately $629.3 million by offering 20.3 million shares priced between $28 and $31 each. This marks the company’s second attempt to go public in four years, following a previous blank-check merger attempt in 2021 that was ultimately scrapped due to regulatory challenges.
Matt Kennedy, a senior strategist at Renaissance Capital, noted that during the IPO marketing process, bankers typically prefer to set conservative valuations initially, allowing for potential upward adjustments rather than risk overshooting and needing to lower prices.
In its filing, Bullish also indicated plans to convert a significant portion of the IPO proceeds into US-dollar-denominated stablecoins, collaborating with one or more dollar-pegged cryptocurrency issuers to facilitate this transition.
Bullish is positioned as a crypto-trading platform primarily targeting institutional investors. The company is led by Thomas Farley, who previously held the role of president at the New York Stock Exchange.
Despite its ambitious plans, Bullish reported a $349 million loss for the quarter ending March 31, a stark contrast to the $105 million profit it posted the previous year.
This announcement follows a series of moves in the crypto sector, including Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital, which began trading on the Nasdaq after relocating from the Toronto Stock Exchange, and Gemini, which recently filed confidentially for a US IPO.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
