Cloud computing startup Snowflake Computing is aiming to go public. Bloomberg and the Financial Times reported that the company has confidentially filed for an IPO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
San Mateo, Calif.-based Snowflake raised a $479 million round at a $12.4 billion valuation in February. Now the company could reach a valuation as high as $20 billion, the Financial Times reported.
Snowflake declined to comment when contacted by GeekWire.
Snowflake’s data warehouse is a specialized type of cloud database built for analytical applications. The company has more than 2,000 customers including Brex, ConAgra Foods, Domino’s, JetBlue, and Nationwide. It has more than 20 offices worldwide, including a Seattle hub, and is one of the most valuable private tech startups in the world.
Snowflake partners and also competes with other cloud giants such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.
Longtime Microsoft executive Bob Muglia previously led Snowflake as CEO for five years but stepped down in May 2019. Frank Slootman, who ran ServiceNow as chairman and CEO from 2011 to 2017, now leads the company.
Dragoneer Investment Group — a backer of Airbnb, Slack, Spotify, Uber and other giants — led the Series G round in February and Salesforce Ventures participated for the first time. Other investors include Seattle-based Madrona Venture Group; Altimeter Capital; ICONIQ Capital; Redpoint Ventures; Sequoia; and Sutter Hill Ventures.
The window for initial public offerings is opening up even amid a fragile period for the global economy. Bill Gates-backed used car seller Vroom and Vancouver, Wash.-based marketing software startup ZoomInfo both priced shares above its previous range this month and saw shares spike on the first day of trading.
