ZoomInfo Moves Ahead with Rare Crisis-Era U.S. Tech IPO

(Bloomberg) -- ZoomInfo Technologies Inc., a business-intelligence platform owned by private equity firms, plans to go public as early as June in what could be one of the first technology listings since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The Vancouver, Washington-based company may launch a virtual roadshow to market its stock as soon as this month, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.

ZoomInfo on Monday updated its filing for an initial public offering with its latest financial information. Following its February 2019 deal to combine with DiscoverOrg, the company’s revenue almost doubled to $102 million in the first quarter compared with the same period last year, according to the filing. Meanwhile, its net loss for the quarter shrunk to $5.9 million from $40 million in 2019.

The company also said in the filing that in April, the annualized value of its contracts grew 87% compared with the same month last year.

No decision is final and ZoomInfo’s IPO plans could still change. A representative for ZoomInfo declined to comment.

The plans come after Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Ltd., the third-biggest cloud service provider in China by revenue, jumped 40% in its U.S. trading debut after raising $510 million last week. Kingsoft was the first major listing in the U.S. since mid-March, when the Covid-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic and trading volatility skyrocketed.

A technology IPO would be a positive sign in an otherwise dreary market for offerings. Companies that were planning to go public this year, such as Airbnb Inc. and Procore Technologies Inc., have instead turned to private funding.

ZoomInfo listed the size of its planned offering as $500 million in a filing in February, a placeholder figure that will likely change. Raising $500 million would make ZoomInfo’s IPO the second-biggest in the U.S. since the pandemic began, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Zoom Confusion

If the IPO is successful, ZoomInfo will have to make sure traders can tell it apart from several other companies with similar names, including Zoom Video Communications Inc., the video-conferencing system that’s become a work-from-home staple for many during the coronavirus crisis. That company’s shares are up 140% this year, valuing it at about $46 billion just over a year after its own IPO. Mobile hardware manufacturer Zoom Technologies Inc. changed its ticker to ZTNO from ZOOM to avoid confusion, after its stock rallied 890% in the first quarter and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission suspended its trading.

ZoomInfo plans to use the symbol ZI for its shares, which will list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.

Previously known as Zoom Information Inc., ZoomInfo was last year combined with DiscoverOrg, another business-to-business data platform for sales and recruitment. DiscoverOrg’s backers include TA Associates and Carlyle Group Inc.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley are leading the share sale, a filing shows. Proceeds from the offering will be used to redeem preferred shares, repay debt and for general corporate purposes.

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