Crypto coins have been in financial reporting for almost a year. One of the most notable names is Ripple. Unlike Bitcoin, Ripple is the product of a real company, Ripple Labs. And 2018 may well be the year that Ripple Labs pulls to the stock market.
XRP, the cryptomunt of Ripple Labs, experienced a huge increase at the end of 2017, as a result of which Ripple became the second largest crypto coin in the world at one point. This made Ripple Labs one of the most valuable non-listed technology companies because Ripple Labs still has a large part of XRP in its own hands.
Many Wall Street analysts see potential in blockchain but are reluctant to crypto coins. An investment in Ripple Labs is more obvious than an investment in XRP. An IPO of Ripple Labs would not be so far-fetched in 2018.
These companies already invested in Ripple
At an IPO, existing shareholders can cash in their profits. Ripple did a first private placement of $ 2 million in 2012. In 2013, influential investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Peter Thiel came on board.
In 2013, Google Ventures and IDG Capital Partners invested in Ripple Labs. In 2014, the company raised another $ 32 million, giving it a valuation of $ 100 million. In 2015 another financing round was held and companies such as CME Group, Seagate Technology and Banco Santander came on board. The last financing round dates from 2016 when $ 55 million was raised for international expansion.
In September 2017, CEO Brad Garlinghouse told CNBC that Ripple Labs is not yet ready for an IPO:
"I want to make sure we have the right managerial maturity, infrastructure, and ability to forecast properly. ... At some point it will make sense. Just not today. "
But it is clear that the existing shareholders want to capitalize on their investments at a certain moment.
Dependency XRP
Ripple Labs will have to reduce its dependence on XRP sharply for an IPO. The volatility of the crypto coins makes it difficult to appreciate Ripple Labs when the value of the company largely depends on the price of XRP.
In addition, there is also a lawsuit between Ripple Labs and R3, a consortium of banks, about the granting of an option worth 5 billion XRP at an exercise price of $ 0.01 per XRP.
When Ripple Labs can remove these obstacles, nothing stands in the way of an IPO of the company in 2018.
Source: Fool