Project management software as a service (SaaS) provider Procore Technologies Inc. has been tight-lipped in the past about when, or if, it planned on going public, but that question has been answered. Last Friday, the company filed the required paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announcing its plans for an initial public offering (IPO). There is no IPO date, though, only references to a sale in "the near future."

In its S-1 – “Registration Statement Under the Securities Act of 1933,” Procore provided information regarding its financial position, achievements and even investor risks, all of which are designed to give the public a solid idea of what the company is all about prior to the sale. That includes information that Procore was not obligated to divulge as a private company.

Procore reported that its gross revenue for 2019 was $289.2 million, up from $186.4 million in 2018 and $112.3 million in 2017. The company recorded net losses for all three years — $55.5 million in 2017; $56.7 million in 2018; and $83.1 million in 2019. 

As far as the number of users on the Procore platform, its customer base almost doubled from 2017 through 2019. Last year, each enterprise client invited an average of 170 users, giving Procore a total of more than 1.3 million users at the end of 2019. Customers are able to invite an unlimited number of users at no additional charge, with the goal of encouraging "rapid, widespread adoption" of the company's products. 

Procore is offering investors, according to the S-1, the chance to get in on what the company says is a $9.4 billion annual potential market opportunity for its products, an assumption based on multiplying the number of owners, general contractors and specialty contractors in its addressable geographies — U.S., Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand — by the median ARR (annual recurring revenue) for each of its three customer categories by size — enterprise, mid-market and small business. From its total potential customer pool, Procore excluded those contractors with less than $2.5 million in annual revenue and owners that spend less than $2.5 million on construction services each year.

Procore, the company said, is in a position to take advantage of the digitization trend in the construction industry and believes it offers a unique approach to servicing its customers through its understanding and relationship to the construction community and by its user-centric culture. Among its other stated competitive advantages are its "comprehensive and integrated" platform and easy-to-use mobile app.

The company also acknowledges potential investor risks such as:

• A history of losses.
• Potential, future decreases in construction spending.
• The inability to maintain and enhance the Procore brand.
• Failure to compete effectively.
• Potential future loss of key employees.
• A potential miscalculation of future market opportunity.

Procore's IPO is valued at $100 million and the list of underwriters includes Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC; J.P. Morgan Securities LLC; Barclays Capital Inc,; Jefferies LLC; and Canaccord Genuity LLC. The IPO could value the company, according to Bloomberg News, at $4 billion. 

Procore said it plans to use the proceeds of the IPO to increase its "capitalization and financial flexibility;" for working capital, operating expenses and capital expenditures; and perhaps more acquisitions, although the company said it had no particular deals in mind. Since September 2018, Procore executed three significant acquisition deals: analytics company Construction BI, Honest Buildings and BIManywhere.

In a letter to potential investors, Craig “Tooey” Courtemanche Jr., company founder, president and CEO, said Procore's goal is to connect everyone in construction on a global platform, empowering industry players to do their best work. "When people ask me what my goal is for the future of Procore, my answer is simple: I never want to stop providing people in the construction industry with technology that makes their lives easier, safer and more productive," he wrote.