Pluralsight Files for Highly Anticipated IPO

Investors may be working themselves into a frenzy over the news that the DOW has plunged by leaps and bounds thanks to ongoing trade disputes between the United States and China, but not all the news coming from Wall Street is bad these days; for instance, the news that Pluralsight, a Utah-based unicorn pioneering the future of education software, has filed for a market debut in the tech scene jumping for joy. Despite the chills that have surrounded global markets this year thanks to trade-related concerns, tech stocks have made quite a year of 2018, and Pluralsight could be the latest company to cash in on the market’s desire for next-gen tech companies.

Pluralsight’s mysterious filing

Much of what we know about Pluralsight’s forthcoming market debut is only hearsay at this point; the company confidentially filed for an IPO on Monday, according to a press release they issued, meaning the specific financial details investors are usually on the lookout for are currently unavailable. That doesn’t mean there’s a total information drought when it comes to Pluralsight’s performance thus far in the market, however. Previous rounds of private funding illustrate that Pluralsight has plenty of cash on hand to invest in its future, and there are a few good reasons to believe that the company is already profitable. 

Pluralsight raised a mammoth $135 million in Series B funding as recently as 2014, for instance, and most investors consider the software pioneer to be a unicorn, which could prove handy when it comes to luring in tech investors who want stocks that will make a big splash on the market. Pluralsight hasn’t slowed down since its 2004 inception, either, regularly going on acquisition sprees that to-date have seen the company gobble up at least 8 companies since 2013 alone. With data like that backing its market prospects, it stands to reason that Pluralsight may have one of the mostly highly anticipated IPOs of 2018. 

What little we know about the company’s finances aren’t the only thing working in its favor, either; Pluralsight has continuously garnered extraordinarily positive media coverage for itself, drawing in the attention of a global audience that could be alluring to investors who want to invest in a stock with a positive brand behind it. When you review the lavish praise drizzled onto Pluralsight in major publications like Forbes, it’s easy to see that the financial world is clearly rooting for the software company.  

But will all of this be enough to translate into a successful IPO? With the market as volatile as ever, largely thanks to President Trump’s ongoing tariff-based feud with Chinese authorities, many investors are spooked, and unwilling to part with their money unless they’re certain they’ll see near-instantaneous results. Luckily for Pluralsight, the company’s track record and the rapidly growing industry it finds itself situated in will likely convince investors who are getting cold feet that it has a viable future in the market. 

The e-learning market is booming

Investors who are refusing to consider adding Pluralsight to their portfolio before it releases more intimate financial details may be soothed when they learn about the global e-learning industry, which is set to expand impressively in the near-future with home care services akin to Skylark Home Care, making the system cheaper for many young people. An analysis by Technavio claims that the corporate e-learning market will swell by some 11 percent between 2016 and 2021, for instance, and could eventually be worth a mammoth $31 billion in total. With a market like that to thrive in, it stands to reason that Pluralsight has plenty of opportunity for growth, especially if it enjoys a successful IPO that will see the company’s coffers flushed with capital. 

With the tech market still hot with news about IPOs from the likes of Dropbox and Spotify, too, it’s reasonable that tech investors will see Pluralsight, a unicorn, as the next big cash-cow worth throwing their financial weight behind. Still, the company will need to release more detailed information about its recent performance through S-1 filings before it can expect many investors to become confident in its future. Don’t be afraid to get excited over the e-learning company, but understand that much of the hype surrounding it is largely fueled by a relative lack of concrete information. 

Keep a close eye on Pluralsight as more information is issued by the company’s executives; the Utah-based unicorn could have one of the hottest IPOs of the year, and is sure to thrive in its growing industry, should it have no unforeseen disasters in the near future.