Cardlytics, which originally filed plans to go public on January 12, has made its IPO official today. On the NASDAQ this morning, the data-driven marketing company issued 5.4 million shares under the ticker symbol CDLX. The offering is expected to close on February 13, 2018, subject to closing conditions.
To celebrate this momentous event in the company’s 10-year history, Cardlytics CEO and Co-Founder Scott Grimes and COO and Co-Founder Lynne Laube, rang the opening bell on NASDAQ this morning. Grimes said, “We believe becoming a publicly-listed company on the NASDAQ will help Cardlytics continue to strengthen our partnerships with banks, drive meaningful consumer engagement, and help brands make their marketing more relevant and measurable through our Purchase Intelligence platform.”
In an analysis on Seeking Alpha, Gary Alexander noted that the market cap of $273 million places Cardlytics “on the small extreme of the IPO spectrum.” However, he added that because Cardlytics is the first fintech– and even the first technology company– to go public this year, “it’s bound to get attention for signaling appetite in the IPO markets.”
Atlanta-based Cardlytics, which launched in the heart of the Great Recession, has raised a total of $203 million and counts ITC Holding Co., Kinetic Ventures, Canaan Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, and TTV Capital among its investors. In the nine months ending in September 2017, the company logged losses of $16 million on sales of $91 million.
Cardlytics leverages algorithms and machine learning to normalize raw purchase data and make it useful for marketers. The company offers solutions for both marketers and banks, including:
- Insights: helps marketers make better business decisions across marketing, store operations, and real estate planning by viewing into customers’ actual purchase behavior.
- Measure: leverages sales data to help marketers measure and optimize their marketing strategies
- Purchase Intelligence: allows marketers to advertise within a native banking environment to capture new clients with the use of loyalty and rewards
At FinovateFall 2013, Cardlytics demoed its geolocation application, a solution that sends bank customers ads and offers based on their location. Last month, the company appointed Sathish Gaddipati as Chief Technology Officer. Most recently, Cardlytics earned a spot on the Tech Tribune’s list of the 10 Best Tech Startups in Atlanta.