GrubMarket Is Interviewing Banks for 2022 IPO

(Bloomberg) -- GrubMarket, a software maker and operator of an e-commerce platform connecting farmers and other food suppliers with customers, is interviewing potential underwriters for a 2022 initial public offering, according to people with knowledge of the matter. 

The San Francisco-based startup is in talks with Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. about a U.S. listing during the second half of next year that could value it at $4 billion or more, said some of the people, who requested anonymity discussing information that isn’t yet public. Terms, including the startup’s valuation, haven’t been finalized and could change based on market conditions. 

GrubMarket, led by Chief Executive Officer Mike Xu, on Tuesday said it’s valued at more than $1.2 billion after raising $200 million in a funding round that featured Tiger Global Management, BlackRock, Apeira Capital and Walleye Capital, among other investors. It may raise additional funding before an IPO, one of the people said.

The company has hit an annual run rate of $1 billion, and is “aiming to debut on the public market within the next 11 months or so,” Xu said in a statement disclosing the new funding. Xu has ambitions of growing GrubMarket’s annual revenue to $100 billion, he added.

Representatives for GrubMarket and Goldman declined to comment. Representatives Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Founded in 2014, GrubMarket operates in more than a dozen U.S. states and Canada. The company has ambitions to address demographic inequalities that hinder access to fresh food in certain regions of the U.S., Xu said. Its other investors include Liberty Street Funds, Japan Post Capital and Reimagined Ventures. 

Earlier Tuesday, Griffin Schroeder, a Tiger Global Management partner, credited GrubMarket’s software for digitally transforming the highly fragmented food-supply chain.

“We are inspired by both the company’s mission of creating sustainable, data-driven distribution to unlock value for a massive yet inefficient industry, as well as its impressively disciplined approach of driving aggressive but profitable scale to build a durable franchise,” said Natalie Hwang, Apeira Capital’s managing partner.

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