Roblox IPO: Daily Crunch Report

Roblox reveals its financial details, Snap completes a purchase, and Pfizer with BioNTech are preparing to request authorization for their vaccine. This is your Daily Crunch for November 20, 2020.

Leading the news: Roblox prepares for public trading

The gaming platform popular with younger audiences filed for an initial public offering privately in October, but released its S-1 filing containing financial data just yesterday.

What do the financials indicate? Roblox is experiencing substantial growth—total revenue increased by 56% in 2019, and then by an additional 68% through the first nine months of 2020, reaching $588.7 million in revenue. Simultaneously, the company’s losses are also increasing, almost quadrupling to $203.2 million over the same nine-month period.

The company also stated that its continued success is reliant on maintaining a secure online environment for children, warning that failure to do so would significantly harm the business.

Major technology companies

Snap has acquired Voisey, an application focused on music creation that allows users to add vocals to tracks—Voisey provides users with audio filters for their voices and a platform to discover and listen to content created by others.

Despite public commitments to anti-racism, the percentage of Black employees at Uber has decreased—Uber’s most recent diversity report demonstrates a decline in the representation of Black employees within the United States.

Google, Facebook, and Twitter are considering withdrawing from Pakistan in response to a new censorship law—This action follows the Pakistani government’s decision to grant extensive authority to local regulators to control digital content.

Startups, investment, and venture capital

Loadsmart secures $90M in funding to strengthen its comprehensive freight and logistics platform—Loadsmart provides a single online portal for booking freight transportation via land, rail, and ports.

ORIX invests $60M in OurCrowd, an Israeli crowdfunding platform—OurCrowd also announced that the two companies will work together to develop financial products and investment possibilities for both the Japanese and international markets.

Kea receives $10M in funding to develop AI technology designed to assist restaurants in managing phone calls—CEO Adam Ahmad explains that the startup has created a “virtual cashier” capable of handling initial customer interactions, processing standard orders, and transferring calls to human staff when necessary.

Insights and analysis from Extra Crunch

A commentary suggests that venture capitalists are not performing adequately if they haven’t generated $1 billion in revenue this week—This observation was made by Danny Crichton.

An explanation of why Carlos Gonzalez-Cadenas, COO of GoCardless, is transitioning to a full-time role in venture capital—Gonzalez-Cadenas believes that “this is the optimal time for entrepreneurship in Europe.”

An assessment of Roblox’s valuation—A more detailed examination of Roblox’s financial performance.

(Extra Crunch is our subscription service, dedicated to making information about startups more accessible. You can register here.)

Other news

Pfizer and BioNTech will submit a request today for emergency use authorization of their COVID-19 vaccine—These emergency authorizations still require supporting data and safety information, but they are expedited compared to the standard, complete approval procedure.

Mixtape podcast: Developing a comprehensive DEI strategy to address a systemic problem with Y-Vonne Hutchinson—Hutchinson is the CEO of ReadySet, a consulting firm specializing in helping companies build more inclusive and equitable workplaces.

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