By Anirban Sen and Joshua Franklin
(Reuters) – U.S. online job marketplace ZipRecruiter Inc has hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co to lead preparations for an initial public offering (IPO), people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The move shows how ZipRecruiter is keen to tap the red-hot IPO market for technology startups, even as the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on its job posting business. Though postings have rebounded somewhat, wide distribution of vaccines that would bring many businesses back to normal is still several months away.
ZipRecruiter is eying a valuation of between $3 billion and $5 billion in the IPO, which could come in the first half of 2021, the sources said, cautioning that the valuation and timing are subject to market conditions. It was valued at $1.5 billion in a fundraising round in 2018.
The sources requested anonymity as the plans are confidential. ZipRecruiter, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan declined to comment.
Founded in 2010, Santa Monica, California-based ZipRecruiter operates an online marketplace between employers and job seekers, charging a fee for job postings. It is free for job seekers posting resumes.
The company has over 700 employees in the United States, Canada, Britain and Israel, and has helped staff over 1.8 million jobs, according to its website. Its investors include venture capital firms IVP and Basepoint Ventures.
It competes with the likes of Indeed, which is owned by Japanese staffing agency Recruit Holdings Co Ltd, and LinkedIn, which is owned by Microsoft Corp.
ZipRecruiter’s IPO plans come amid a record year for stock market listings, with a host of companies including data analytics firm Palantir Technologies and data warehouse company Snowflake Inc seeing significant rises in their share prices after going public.
Shares of Airbnb Inc more than doubled in their stock market debut on Thursday, valuing the home rental firm at just over $100 billion.
(Reporting by Anirban Sen in Bangalore and Joshua Franklin in Miami; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
