A 4-year old anti-spam company with only $26 million in fiscal 2004 revenue and very slight profits has decided to go public. This will really test how ready the markets are for smaller IPOs. This is a major growth industry, to be sure, but the company doesn\’t have the revenues you expect these days.
Here is an excerpt from their S-1, filed today:
Brightmail is a leading provider of electronic messaging security software and services to enterprises and messaging service providers worldwide. We provide a comprehensive suite of products and services focused on securing the messaging infrastructure of businesses of all sizes and industries worldwide. Our proprietary products and services help customers protect their electronic messaging infrastructure by effectively identifying and disposing of unwanted or malicious messages while accurately allowing delivery of legitimate messages. These integrated products and services help our customers protect their systems from spam, viruses and fraudulent emails, as well as other security threats while allowing legitimate mail to be reliably and securely delivered.
We were founded in February 1998 and began offering our messaging security solutions in 1999. Our revenues have grown from $93,000 in fiscal 2000, the first full year in which we sold our products and services, to $26.0 million in fiscal 2004. We experienced our first profitable quarter in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2003, and we had net income of $1.2 million in fiscal 2004. Based on stock-based compensation we recorded as of January 31, 2004, we expect to amortize approximately $1.4 million in stock-based compensation over the next four years. Consequently, we expect these amortization charges to result in net losses on a quarterly and annual basis in fiscal 2005. In addition, we first achieved positive cash flows from operations in the third quarter of fiscal 2003, prior to which time we financed our operations primarily through equity financing. Since inception, we have raised a total of $53.2 million, primarily through issuances of convertible preferred stock.
As of January 31, 2004, we had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaling $26.8 million and an accumulated deficit of $38.8 million, and our customer base consisted of over 2,000 customers with an aggregate of over 300 million end-user mailboxes under subscription.
