Online crafts retailer Etsy Inc is looking to raise US$300m for an IPO that could take place this quarter and be the largest tech IPO to come out of New York in 16 years.
Bloomberg, in quoting people familiar with the matter, reported that Etsy is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley on the IPO.
Etsy is likely to release a prospectus for the IPO this month with more financial details, though according to its website, the company posted US$1.3bn in gross merchandise sales in 2013.
Representatives for Etsy, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley declined to comment to Bloomberg.
Etsy is one of several e-commerce start-ups that have been valued at more than US$1bn, Bloomberg reported, adding that the last time a tech firm from New York raised more than US$3m, the dot-com boom was driving IPOs from broker TD Waterhouse Group Inc. and Barnesandnoble.com Inc., the web version of the chain of bookstores.
Brooklyn, New York-based Etsy is the brainchild of Rob Kalin, who founded the company in 2005 when he couldn’t find anywhere to sell his handmade computers. Fast forward to 2015, and the website now has about 26m items listed for sale, and offices across the world, including Dublin, Berlin, Toronto and Melbourne.
