SoftBank-backed Kahoot plans $7 billion Oslo listing in coming weeks - sources

Kahoot ASA

10/02/2021 17:15

By Abhinav Ramnarayan and Arno Schuetze
    LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - SoftBank-backed online education
firm Kahoot  KAHOT-ME.OL  is planning to launch a main market
listing on the Oslo bourse in the coming weeks, with the company
valuation pegged at $7 billion, two sources familiar with the
matter told Reuters. 
    Kahoot has appointed Goldman Sachs  GS.N , ABG Sundal
Collier  ASC.OL  and Arctic Securities to manage the listing,
the sources said, and is expected to launch the deal later this
month, as demand for e-learning booms during the pandemic. 
    The company currently has a listing on Oslo's Euronext
Growth junior bourse, and has said it is preparing to switch to
the main market in the first quarter of this year, where it is
likely to be eligible for index inclusion because of its size. 
    Kahoot could sell up to 67 million new shares in the
so-called re-IPO, one of the people said, adding no final
decision had been made on the share offering.
    Kahoot and the banks declined to comment on the specifics of
the main market listing.
    The company completed a $215 million funding round in
October last year, with Japan's SoftBank investing the money,
and saw its share price rise sharply afterwards. The stock is
now up 144% since that investment.  
    One of the sources said that the company's full-year results
reported earlier on Wednesday allows it to go ahead with the
listing, especially after recording 247% growth in invoiced
revenues to $45 million in 2020.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nNDL4kYLN9
    For 2021, Kahoot is targeting $90-100 million in invoiced
revenues with solid positive cash flow from operations and one
million paid subscriptions.
    Apart from SoftBank, the company also counts Datum Group,
Glitrafjord and Bank, New York Mellon and Creandum among its
major shareholders. 
    A number of tech companies have plans to IPO later this
year. 
    Auto1  AG1G.DE  in Germany and Moonpig  MOONM.L  in the UK
have already completed listings. 
    In addition, Deliveroo and Darktrace in London, WeTransfer
in Amsterdam and Trustly in Stockholm have IPO aspirations,
boosted by increasing investor appetite for tech growth stocks
in an uncertain economic environment. 

 (Additional reporting Supantha Mukherjee; Editing by Pravin
Char)
 ((Abhinav.Ramnarayan@thomsonreuters.com; 0044 751 745 1044;))