Roblox is now worth $29.5 billion, a massive leap from being valued at $4 billion a little under a year ago.
According to a report from Reuters, the company has indicated an intent to go public through a direct listing as opposed to the initial public offering (IPO) that was planned from the onset, having raised new funding in a deal that has seen its value skyrocket.
The U.S gaming platform has disclosed having raised around $520 million in a new Series H fundraising drive championed by Altimeter Capital and Dragoneer Investment Group. The funding saw the company’s value reach a figure more than seven times what was announced last year.
The California-based firm is one of the most popular gaming sites for children and presents multiple titles for both mobiles and gaming consoles. Recent times have caused the demand for entertainment to reach unprecedented levels, with the coronavirus pandemic seeing to more people staying home than ever before.
The move to switch to a direct listing came about after the company told employees it was pushing the IPO venture to 2021 last month. Roblox also claimed to be working with advisers to improve the process in order to make it more beneficial to staff, as well as investors.
No shares are sold in advance with direct listings, which is basically the same as an IPO move. However, the company’s share price when it first hits the market is determined by the orders that come into the stock exchange. Advocates assert this is a better way to attach prices to new stock than IPO, although companies have not raised any money through direct listings like they would through IPO.
Roblox would be just the fifth major company to go public via a direct listing; music streaming platform Spotify and data analytics company Palantir Technologies are other entities to have gone public in such a manner.
