San Francisco-based shoe brand Allbirds is set to go ahead with an IPO as it filed for one with the SEC on Tuesday. The listing is estimated to offer $100m worth of shares at initial opening and values the company at $2b.
The hipster Silicon Valley shoemaker positions itself as the sustainable footwear king with it using natural materials such as eucalyptus fiber, castor bean oil, crab shells, and even wool in its products. So, it’ll be pursuing a ‘sustainable’ IPO — meaning it'll be legally bound to adhere to ESG standards during its operations. This will mark the first ‘sustainable’ US IPO and could have implications as to how future sustainable companies pursue a listing. However, IPO hype aside, the company still has its work cut out for it as it hasn’t turned a profit since its founding in 2016. Due to the positive impact of Covid-19 on e-commerce activity, though, it did see a 13% revenue growth in 2020 — with 89% of that coming from online channels.
Why it matters
Although this is the first technical sustainable US IPO, the public markets have seen a rise in listings with a sustainability element this past year. IPOs, through SPACs in particular, have seen 49 deals in the US so far in 2021 that involved ESG considerations — a 22% increase from last year.
