ThoughtWorks, one of Chicago’s long-standing tech companies, is about to enter a new chapter by becoming a publicly traded company.
On Tuesday, ThoughtWorks filed an S-1 form with the SEC, which detailed the company’s plans to go public through an initial public offering. In the document, ThoughtWorks revealed that it would offer 36,842,106 shares of common stock at a price per share between $18 and $20. This means ThoughtWorks could raise up to $328.6 million through this IPO.
It also puts the company’s valuation at more than $6 billion depending on how the stock trades its first few days. The company did not reveal the exact date it will IPO, but it did say that the stock would be listed on the Nasdaq under the “TWKS” ticker symbol.
ThoughtWorks is a tech consulting agency that helps companies develop software or build an online business presence. The company was founded in Chicago in 1993 when the internet was still young, but over the last few decades, it has helped numerous well-known corporations — including Atlassian, Bayer, Sephora, PayPal, Porsche and more — on their digital transformations and strategies.
And with the internet and digital business even more relevant today than it was in the ‘90s, ThoughtWorks has exploded into an international business with over 9,000 employees. In 2020 alone, the company achieved $803 million in revenue and $79 million in net income.
Earlier in the year, ThoughtWorks turned heads when it raised a $720 million investment round, which valued the company at $4.6 billion.
“This placement is a very positive indicator of how strong our company and brand are perceived in the market,” ThoughtWorks CEO and president Guo Xiao said in a statement at the time of the raise. “It’s wonderful that GIC, Siemens, Fidelity and Mubadala see ThoughtWorks to be a strong investment and this is an endorsement of the strength and relevance of our business and people.”
When the company raised this funding, it said that the influx of cash would help it in its efforts to expand internationally and buy back equity from investors. The international expansion is how ThoughtWorks was able to achieve its 9,000-plus employee headcount less than a year after raising those funds, but the equity buyback helped set the stage for this upcoming IPO. With these two initiatives still in motion, the company appears primed for continued growth.
