Zayo’s IPO, Datalogix, Orion Launch highlight ultimate Quarter of ’14

Michael Davidson January 01, 2015

Two of Colorado’s best tech companies scored big exits all over the fourth quarter, with Zayo going public and Datalogix being bought through Oracle. however these had been simply two of the largest tales as 2014 came to an end.

Zayo’s IPO survives a rocky start. Telecom and broadband infrastructure supplier Zayo team (NYSE: ZAYO) has spent the earlier few years getting ready to head public, and it ultimately did in October, with a $ four hundred million IPO. but whereas co-founder and CEO Dan Caruso stated Zayo “acted like a public company” for years, fate would have it that it picked the worst week in up to date years to make the bounce, back when the exchanges took a extreme dip in October. concerns that the downturn would make traders gun shy were sufficient that the speculation of delaying the IPO used to be talked about.

Zayo did must significantly change its providing on the remaining minute and sold its shares at $ 19, which was once under its expected price range. but the company’s stock has accomplished neatly seeing that then, climbing to above $ 32 the final week of December prior to ending the yr at $ 30.57. that gives the Boulder-based company a market cap of greater than $ 7.3 billion.

Oracle can pay a number of money for Datalogix. if you happen to requested folks in Colorado’s tech group to call the companies poised for large issues, Westminster-primarily based Datalogix could be excessive on the listing. the company helps digital publishers and brands like Ford and Kraft plan and monitor the effectiveness of affiliate marketing online campaigns by using linking them to in-retailer purchasers from brick-and-mortar shops. Datalogix’s database tracked greater than $ 2 trillion price of consumer purchases from more than 110 million U.S. households.

the corporate reportedly was once testing the waters for an IPO, however ultimately took a unique route. Oracle introduced in late December it might buy the company for an undisclosed value. Analysts say it usually is as so much because the excessive lots of of tens of millions, despite the fact that we probably gained’t know needless to say until Oracle information its next quarterly document with the SEC.

Heavy hitters get ready for stretch run. via now, it’s no longer individual to read about Colorado tech companies closing major funding rounds. however in the past three months, three of the leading companies announced late-stage or increase fairness rounds that establish them as IPO candidates, possibly not subsequent yr but no longer too some distance down the street.

SolidFire closed the most important spherical, raising an $ eighty two million series D spherical. It brings the total raised by the Boulder-primarily based data storage company to $ a hundred and fifty million. SolidFire makes all-flash storage techniques for endeavor clients and cloud-service providers. customers include eBay and Century link.

Founder and CEO David Wright stated the spherical provides SolidFire “control of our own destiny,” as the company tries to scale up and fend off opponents for market share. “we can then seem against the general public market when it is smart for us, our shoppers, and our investors.”

Sympoz, dba Craftsy, raised a $ 50 million series D round. Craftsy produces online tutorial movies for individuals who need to examine arts and crafts. subjects include photography, quilting, and baking.

The spherical is for “strategic boom” and brings the overall raised by using the Denver company to just about $ 106 million. Co-founder and CEO John Levisay mentioned the corporate believes it has an addressable market of $ 100 billion. Its industry version is to sell the movies to a consumer base that’s primarily female, and it additionally partners with companies similar to Jo-Ann material to promote provides.

in comparison with SolidFire and Craftsy, Welltok raised a mere $ 25 million growth equity spherical, even if the corporate said it does plan to lift a further $ 12 million when the round closes. Welltok, which is headquartered in Denver, is growing device that creates personalised health plans for users and integrates knowledge from units like task trackers.

What makes Welltok’s round spectacular is how much cash it has raised up to now two years. In April 2013, it raised $ 18.7 million, and in February it raised $ 22 million. That brings its total to $ 75 million, with buyers together with Bessemer challenge companions and New undertaking associates.

Welltok CEO Jeff Margolis said the spherical permits the corporate to enter 2015 with “no distractions” because it tries to seize an opening because the $ 2.7 trillion healthcare trade devotes extra consideration (and cash) to keeping individuals wholesome and out of doctors’ places of work and hospitals.

Nest buys Revolv. Revolv, a Boulder-based startup and Techstars alum, had an enormous idea. Revolv used to be making a smart hub that might regulate automatic locks, lights, speakers, and different “good dwelling” devices. Its founders said the hub would be capable of keep watch over 95 p.c of house automation gadgets.

but we’ll by no means know whether or not Revolv’s thought would have worked, as Nest offered the company in October for an undisclosed price. Nest, which makes smart thermostats and smoke detectors, used to be itself offered by way of Google for $ 3.2 billion prior this yr.

The deal appears to be a classic “acqui-rent.” Nest executives praised Revolv’s management and engineers as some of the easiest in the industry but instantly discontinued selling Nest’s sensible hubs. The Revolv staff will remain in Boulder, where they’re going to lead the “Works with Nest” program to make bigger the ecosystem of products which are suitable with Nest.

Orion lifts off. NASA topped the headlines around the world in early December with the primary check flight of the Orion space tablet, which could be step one in an extended march that ends on the Moon or Mars. The four-and-a-half hour unmanned mission was considered a success and is a milestone for the $ eleven billion application.

now not as prominent used to be the story’s Colorado attitude. Lockheed Martin house systems, which is situated south of Denver, designed and built the vehicle. The United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing headquartered out of doors Denver, constructed the Delta IV Heavy rocket used within the launch.

That connection implies that while the mission used to be one small step against Mars, it felt like an enormous bounce for Colorado’s house trade.

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