Hadoop startup Hortonworks, which spun off from Yahoo in 2011, had filed its paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering.
That form, called the S-1, is available here. It shows that Hortonworks earned more than $33 million in revenue in the first nine months of 2014 (through September) while operating at a loss of nearly $88 million. Both metrics grew significantly on a year-over-year basis, with revenue almost doubling.
Hortonworks CEO Rob Bearden told me at our Structure Data conference last March that the company could be a $1 billion company 2017 or 2018.
Assuming Hortonworks filed for its IPO under the JOBS Act, the federal law that allows companies with less than $1 billion in annual revenue to undergo much the process confidentially, it is now under a “quiet period” for 21 days before it can begin its “road show” to investors. How long after that Hortonworks might be trading publicly depends on how fast the company wants to move. For example, Facebook waited more than three months between issuing its S-1 and going public, while Twitter did it in just over a month.
According to an April 2013 report by law firm Latham & Watkins, using data through March 31, 2013, companies operating under the JOBS Act “launched their roadshow 49 days after public filing (126 days after the first confidential submission) and priced 10 days after launch.”
Click on the image below to see a bigger version of the company’s earnings statement.
