The Udemy IPO has commanded a $4.4 billion valuation. The online education company offered 14.5 million shares at $29 per share. Let’s break down the filing…

Udemy IPO: About the Online Learning Platform

Udemy IPO

Eren Bali, Oktay Caglar and Gagan Biyani founded Udemy in 2010. The three partnered together to achieve a common goal: make quality education accessible to all. The solution was to develop an online learning platform targeted at students and professionals.

Udemy is a massive open online course provider today. The platform has a two-sided marketplace where instructors develop content to meet learner demand. The learning experience combines videos, notes and assessment tests into a series of modules.

The San Francisco-based company has a client base of over 44 million learners in more than 180 countries. Udemy offers over 183,000 courses in 75 languages. Over 73 million users have registered on Udemy since its launch.

Courses are available directly to consumers. The company also offers UDemy Business as its B2B (business to business) learning solution. Organizations can use it to train and develop their employees. 42% of Fortune 100 companies use Udemy Business, according to the filing.

In response to the pandemic, industries have needed to acquire new skills. And ongoing changes in the workplace could make the Udemy IPO an interesting prospect.

Pandemic Accelerates Industries’ Need for New Skills

Changing technologies and new working methods have impacted jobs across the board and made it difficult for workers to keep up. Adapting to rapidly changing conditions is an ongoing challenge for workers across all industries. The roles and activities of workers will have to adapt to new conditions.

The revolution goes far beyond remote working, AI and the use of automated systems. Many people have found a new normal in the workplace. And leaders will need to reskill their workers to deliver new business models in a post-pandemic era.

In a 2021 Workplace Learning Trends Report, Udemy revealed that industries have increased demand for data analysis and data science training.

Data shows companies increased their data modeling training by 466% between 2019 and 2020. In addition, there was an increase of 1,488% in data warehouse training.

This represents a major focus on skills development and continued learning in business. However, the pandemic has affected Udemy in far more ways than just its business platform.

COVID-19 is Reshaping Education Long-Term

The Udemy IPO is taking place during a booming online education market. A 2020 Udemy report revealed that online education demand increased across all segments as a result of COVID-19. Here are some of the key findings…

  • 425% increase in enrollments for consumers
  • 55% increase in course creation by instructors
  • 80% increase in usage from businesses

Udemy’s prospectus states…

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of corporate training occurred offline, and we believe that online education is well placed to address the scalability and affordability limitations of offline education. With the increase of internet connectivity, technological advances and interactive tools at a low cost, we expect a massive shift from offline to online.

A 2020 report showed that course enrollments across the Udemy platform grew more than 425% after the first shelter-in-place order took effect. Online learning trends emerged due to the pandemic.

Some of these changes may give a preview of more permanent changes in the way we learn and work in the post-pandemic era. And these trends reflect in Udemy’s revenue and cash flow. Let’s review the company’s finances…

Udemy IPO Financial Data

Udemy highlights some key financial information for investors. The company’s profit and loss statement and balance sheet data are summarized as follows…

Revenue: The filing revealed an upswing in revenue. Udemy recorded $276.3 million in revenue for the 2019 fiscal year. In 2020, Udemy’s revenue rose 56% to $429.9 million for the year. Revenue is on track to keep increasing this year. For the six months ended June 2021, the company reported $250.6 million in revenue. This is promising for the Udemy IPO.

Net Income (Loss): Udemy has reported consistent net losses. For the 2019 fiscal year, the company recorded $69.7 million in net losses. Udemy’s net losses rose to $77.6 million in 2020. For the six months ended July 2021, the company reported $29.4 million net losses. Udemy’s net losses for the half-year ended June 2020 were already $42.5 million, so 2021 should hopefully see declining losses.

Cash: Udemy recorded a massive increase in cash flow in 2020. The company recorded $49.1 million in cash as of December 2019. By the end of 2020, cash skyrocketed to over $175 million. However, the company’s cash decreased to $163.2 million as of June 2021.

Total Assets and Total Liabilities: Udemy’s total assets and total liabilities have grown. The company recorded $117.3 million in total assets and $187.2 million in total liabilities as of December 2019. As of June 30, Udemy’s total assets rose to $286.7 million and total liabilities rose to $279.2 million.

In 2020, a $50 million Series F funding round valued the unicorn at over $3.2 billion, according to data from Crunchbase. So how much money can the Udemy IPO raise?

Udemy IPO Commands $4.4 Billion Valuation

Udemy filed confidentially on May 26. The company set its terms for the offering on October 20. Udemy hit the Nasdaq exchange on October 28 under the ticker UDMY.

The company priced at the top end of its $27 to $29 price range. Udemy sold 14.5 million shares of common stock priced at $29 per share. The offering raised $421 million.

At $29 a share, Udemy has a market value of about $4 billion. Including employee stock options, the company has a fully diluted value of $4.4 billion.

Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan acted as the lead underwriters for the offering.

Online education companies have raised a lot of money from external investors to capitalize on new growth. The Udemy IPO follows Duolingo and Coursera’s successful launches this year.

As always, make sure to research before you invest. IPOs can be volatile for the first few months and share prices are constantly changing. Moreover, if IPO investing interests you, check out our top recent IPOs and our IPO calendar. We update the calendar daily to give you the latest news on upcoming and filed IPOs.

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