Services

Why Blue Apron IPO Dropped Over $200 Million in Valuation Overnight

Chris Lange

Published: June 28, 2017 8:40 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 10:37 am

Blue Apron Holdings has registered an amended S-1 form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its initial public offering (IPO). Blue Apron now expects to price its 30 million shares in the range of $10 to $11, with an overallotment option for an additional 4.5 million shares. The previous price range was $15 to $17 per share, a drop of 34% from the median of each range, or about $207 million total. At the maximum price, the offering now is valued up to $379.5 million. The company intends to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol APRN.

The underwriters for the offering are Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Barclays, RBC Capital Markets, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Stifel, Canaccord Genuity, Needham, Oppenheimer, Raymond James and William Blair.

This company was founded in 2012, premised on a simple desire: its founders wanted to cook at home with their families, but they found grocery shopping and menu planning burdensome, time-consuming and expensive.

Since its inception, Blue Apron has scaled rapidly, developing its expertise and an ever-more ambitious vision. From inception through March 31, 2017, the company has delivered over 159 million meals to households across the United States, which represents about 25 million paid orders.

Its customers often cook using Blue Apron’s products multiple times each week. The company sells to customers in 48 states, spanning most demographics.

In the filing, the company detailed its financial results as follows:

In 2014, 2015, and 2016, we generated $77.8 million, $340.8 million, and $795.4 million in net revenue, respectively, representing growth of 338% from 2014 to 2015 and growth of 133% from 2015 to 2016. In the three months ended March 31, 2016 and March 31, 2017, we generated $172.1 million and $244.8 million in net revenue, respectively, representing growth of 42%. In the years ended December 31, 2014, 2015, and 2016, we incurred net losses of $(30.8) million, $(47.0) million, and $(54.9) million, respectively, and in the three months ended March 31, 2016 and March 31, 2017, we generated net income of $3.0 million and incurred net losses of $(52.2) million, respectively.

Blue Apron intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to repay indebtedness, with the remainder going toward working capital and general corporate purposes.