Welcome again to The TechCrunch Exchange, a weekly startups-and-markets publication. It’s impressed by what the weekday Exchange column digs into, however free, and made to your weekend studying. Want it in your inbox each Saturday? Sign up right here.
Hello everybody, I hope you had a stunning week. I turned 32 after experiencing sleep-destroying heartburn. So, slightly good and slightly dangerous. But that didn’t cease the markets. Nope. Not a bit. Which means we’ve got quite a bit to speak about, together with falling insurtech shares and what the scenario would possibly imply for startups, and a raft of IPOs. This can be enjoyable!
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of our chats with newly public corporations Kaltura, Couchbase and Enovix, let’s discuss insurtech.
In the final yr or so we’ve seen quite a few insurtech startups go public, together with Root (auto insurance coverage), Metromile (automotive insurance coverage), and Lemonade (rental insurance coverage). Here’s a fast digest of how their efficiency appears in the present day:
- Root: $7.72 per share, 71.4% down from its $27 per share IPO worth.
- Metromile: $7.26 per share, down 64.4% from its post-combination highs.
- Lemonade: $86.97 per share, up 199.9% from its IPO worth of $29 per share.
Recall that Root and Metromile started to commerce after Lemonade, so their declines will not be over an extended time horizon, however a shorter interval. Which makes the scenario all of the extra attention-grabbing.
What’s happening? Well, two of the three insurtech public choices (SPACs, IPOs, and so forth.) are sharply underwater. That doesn’t bode extremely properly for Hippo, which is pursuing its personal SPAC-led mixture that needs to be wrapping up in brief order. The enormous declines don’t appear bullish for insurtech startups, who should reply private-market investor doubts regarding their worth.
Does Lemonade’s sturdy post-IPO efficiency allay issues? It’s tough. The firm has been busy increasing into new markets, together with auto insurance coverage. The firm did take a considerably materials hit from the Texas freeze earlier this yr — per its most up-to-date earnings report — however previous these two information factors it’s not solely clear what the corporate is doing that the opposite two will not be. But traders are stoked about Lemonade, and never Root and Metromile. Figuring out why that’s the case, and why their startup is extra Lemonade than the opposite two, goes to be key for the various insurtech startups nonetheless scaling towards their very own IPOs.
It’s IPO season
The Exchange has been busy on the telephones these final two weeks, speaking to CEOs of corporations going public to try to be taught from their current experiences. So, what follows are notes from calls with of us at Kaltura, Couchbase and Enovix. Enjoy!
Kaltura
- Reminder: Online-video-focused Kaltura filed to go public earlier this yr earlier than delaying its IPO and taking one other run on the funding occasion.
- The Exchange spoke with Kaltura CEO Ron Yekutiel, who stated that the corporate’s IPO’s timing was impacted by the early-2021 public market turmoil. That was not a shock, however it was good to get affirmation regardless.
- That freeze was partially attributable to the Archegos implosion, per Yekutiel. That is sensible, however was information to us.
- Yekutiel stated that his firm wasn’t thrilled concerning the delay — going public is the one fundraise that you simply pre-announce, he famous — however added that traders his firm had already spoken to the first-time round have been nonetheless enthused about Kaltura on its second run at an IPO.
- Per the CEO, Kaltura’s preliminary Q2 outcomes confirmed traders that what it was speaking about earlier within the yr was coming true. He additionally pressured uptake in new merchandise as key to the corporate’s continued development.
- The CEO was pleased with how his firm priced and traded throughout its first day, snagging a flat 20% uptick in worth upon buying and selling. He famous that extra would have been extreme, and fewer would have been un-good.
- Regarding the decrease valuation that Kaltura priced at in comparison with its March-era IPO worth vary,…
