It has been more than two years since a Washington technology company completed an initial public offering. And the long, hard drought doesn't look to be ending anytime soon.
No venture-backed companies in the entire country completed an IPO in the first quarter, the first time on record that there have been two consecutive quarters without any new offerings, according to the National Venture Capital Association. The mergers and acquisition market also took a hit in the first quarter, with 56 companies selling out at an average disclosed deal value of $49.6 million. That compares to 106 deals at an average deal value of $113 million for the same period last year.
"We predicted that the venture-backed IPO market was going to get worse before it was going to get better, and we were unfortunately correct," said Mark Heesen, president of the NVCA. "Today our concerns are not limited to the zero IPO issues but have now expanded to the shrinking pipeline of companies in registration. Once we begin to see a recovery, there won't be many companies prepared to take advantage of it, effectively extending the lackluster market until the pipeline rebuilds."
Only 26 venture-backed companies are currently registered to go public.
Venture capitalists are concerned.
"There is absolutely no public market and there hasn't been for venture-backed companies since 1999," said OVP's Chad Waite recently told TechFlash. Asked if the market will come back, he said: "I hope so."
UPDATE: Madrona's Matt McIlwain -- whose firm participated in one of the last venture-backed IPOs in the state with Isilon Systems -- doesn't think the IPO market will turn around anytime soon. "I think we will see very little, if any, IPO deal activity in 2009," said McIlwain. The problem is two fold. There aren't many companies in registration to go public and the valuations are bad. McIlwain said that most growth companies are now trading at one to two times their trailing 12 month revenue multiple, which compares to three to five times in the past.
"It is not a good time from a valuation perspective," he said.
By the way, the last Washington technology company to complete an IPO? That was Clearwire, which priced on March 8, 2007.
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