E-commerce company Wish has confidentially filed to go public, according to an official press release from the company on Monday. The company has submitted the first draft with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for review, after which it could go ahead with an initial public offering (IPO).
Many companies have gone public in 2020, but not all in the same way. Sports-betting company DraftKings went public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), while software company Asana has filed to go public via a direct public offering. For its part, Wish has confidentially filed for an IPO, like Airbnb. By filing that way, Wish can delay sharing its filings until 15 days before its IPO date.
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Wish offers merchandise at steep bargain prices on its website and app, suggesting sellers' items to shoppers via their preferences. According to app analytics service App Annie, Wish is a top-100 app download among iPhone users. And it's currently ranked as the fifth most downloaded shopping app, one spot ahead of eBay.
Wish's last round of private-equity funding came in 2019, valuing the company at $11 billion at the time. It had 80 million monthly active users back then, but one would assume its usage has surged in 2020 during the pandemic. While traditional retail chains have struggled since March, e-commerce has soared. According the Census Bureau, nonstore retail (e-commerce) increased 25% year over year in June and July.
Companies like Amazon and Etsy have thrived as a result, and that may be the case for Wish as well. However, investors will have to wait to see the current state of the company because of the confidential filing.
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