Israeli web recommendation platform Outbrain Inc., headed by founder and CEO Yaron Galai, has made its IPO on Nasdaq. The company offered 8 million shares at $20 per share, raising $160 million gross, at a valuation of $1.1 billion. The valuation is considerably below the figure that Outbrain aimed at at the beginning of the process, and below the reduced value in the prospectus published last week.
The shares are due to start being traded today under the symbol OB.
Outbrain's rival Taboola recently began to be traded on Wall Street after merging with a SPAC at a valuation of $2.6 billion. The two Israeli companies, which lead their market, were on the point of merging two years ago, but the move was eventually abandoned. Taboola's share price has fallen sharply since the company was listed.
In last week's revised prospectus, the share price was set at $24-26, which would have given gross proceeds of $192-208 million at a valuation of $1.3-1.4 billion, lower than the $1.8 billion initially spoken of.
Outbrain and Taboola are both in digital advertising. Each has developed a platform for content recommendations on news sites. On finishing reading an article, a surfer receives suggestions for further reading, with the aim of generating traffic on the sites concerned and extending surfing time on them. Some of the recommended sites are sponsored by advertisers that pay Outbrain or Taboola, which in turn share the revenue with the news sites.
Citigroup, Jefferies, Barclays, and Evercore ISI are acting as joint bookrunners for the offering. JMP Securities, Needham & Company and LUMA Securities are acting as co-managers.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 23, 2021
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