Synacor Withdraws It IPO, Citing Market Conditions
This story was written by Rafat Ali.
Not that this is a surprise, but Synacor, the online content and application provider to the ISPs has withdrawn its IPO due to "current market conditions." People had been asking the question about the company for a while now...it filed its S-1 in August last year, and planned to raise around $86.25 million, and not much was heard about it since then. The full SEC filing withdrawing its IPO is here.
"In light of current market conditions, the Registrant has determined not to proceed at this time with the public offering..the Registrant hereby informs the Staff that it may undertake a subsequent private offering in reliance on the safe harbor set forth in Rule 155(c) promulgated under the Act."
Underwriters for the IPO were Deutsche Bank Securities, Bear Stearns & Co. Inc., Thomas Weisel Partners, Canaccord Adams and Montgomery & Co., and was seeking a Nasdaq listing under the symbol "SYNC."
The Buffalo, NY-based company builds and runs "portals" or home pages for mid to small sized ISPs....for example, Charter Communications (NSDQ: CHTR) relies on Synacor for its portal at Charter.net. It was founded in February 2001, as the result of a merger between two Internet tech companies Chek.com and MyPersonal, both founded in 1998. Synacor has raised around $54 million in VC funding since 1999, including a $17 million third round in 2006 at a post-money valuation of around $100 million. The company recapitalized in 2002. Intel (NSDQ: INTC) Capital is one of the main investors, with a 11.8 percent stake. Others are Walden International, with 26 percent, Crystal Internet Ventures with 22.5 percent, and Advantage Capital Partners with 15.8 percent.
By Rafat Ali