Trading due to begin on NASDAQ today

Trading due to begin on NASDAQ today

MongoDB hopes to rake in as much as $220.8m when it finally goes public – a move expected later today.

The NoSQL database company, which started life as 10Gen in 2007, has set its share price at $24, up from previous market estimates of around $21.

It is putting 8 million Class A shares on the market, with trading due to begin on the NASDAQ, under the symbol MDB, on October 19. From these, it hopes to raise $192m.

On top of this, it is offering underwriters the chance to buy a further 1.2 million additional shares, which would bump its total up to $220.8m.

With 49 million shares outstanding, the move would value the company at $1.2bn.

MongoDB sells itself as a modern alternative to legacy database vendors like IBM, Oracle and Microsoft.

It has boosted its customer numbers from 1,100 in January 2015 to 4,300 across 85 countries today.

However, the firm’s S-1 form – first published last month – revealed that, despite almost doubling revenues between the financial years of 2016 and 2017, MongoDB is still making heavy losses.

In the year ended January 31, 2017, it brought in $101.4m, but made a net loss of $86.7m.

Nonetheless, as one of many companies looking to make a profit from open source, its IPO will be watched closely.

“This event is a market statement that recognises that there is a critical need for a new era of operational data management,” said Billy Bosworth, chief exec of another NoSQL database company, DataStax.

“The relational database era is passing, and the new era will have the opportunity for mid-market players like MongoDB and companies such as DataStax with our focus on the enterprise.” ®