Zillow, an online real estate information marketplace, announced terms for its IPO on Wednesday. The Seattle, WA-based company, which was founded in 2004, plans to raise $45 million by offering 3.5 million shares at a price range of $12 to $14 with a concurrent private offering of $5.5 million to existing investors. At the mid-point of the proposed range, Zillow will command a market value of $401 million.
Zillow's free website attracted 17.3 million average monthly unique users for the three months ended March 2011, up 86% over the year-ago period. Its database includes more than 100 million U.S. homes, including homes for sale, homes for rent and homes not currently on the market. Through a proprietary algorithm, Zillow determines an estimated value for each house, termed a "Zestimate." The company's revenues, generated from real estate and mortgage professionals (through subscriptions) and from brand advertisers, rose 74% from $17.5 million in 2009 to $30.5 million in 2010. After launching its first mobile application in April 2009, Zillow now operates the most popular mobile real estate applications across iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry.
Zillow prepares to enter the market following the wildly successful IPO of online vacation-rental website HomeAway (AWAY), which traded up almost 50% the first day after pricing at the high end of its range.
Zillow plans to list on the NASDAQ under the symbol (Z). Citi is the lead underwriter on the deal.
