Carvana Rival Online Retailer Vroom Plans June IPO: Report

Online auto retailer Vroom Inc. is seeking to go public as soon as June, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

What Happened

The New York-based company has confidentially filed for an initial public offering with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, people familiar with the matter told the Journal.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS is leading Vroom's filing, and others, including Wells Fargo & Co. WFC, Allen & Co LLC., Bank of America Corp. BAC, and Stifel Financial Corp. SF will serve as underwriters, according to the Journal.

Vroom was last valued at $1.5 billion when it received a $254 million funding in December last year.

In March, it announced a $450 million floorplan commitment from Ally Financial to increase its liquidity.

The company's rival Carvana Co. CVNA went public in April 2017 and has since seen its stock price increase by 667%.

Why It Matters

Vroom's planned IPO comes at a time when the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has wreaked havoc at the financial markets.

Only two companies went public in the first two weeks of April, together raising a few hundred million dollars, the Journal noted.

Among technology companies, only has gone public in 2020 so far, according to data from the University of Florida finance professor Jay Ritter reported by the Journal.

A number of promising IPOs, including that of Airbnb Inc., remain stalled following a string of underperformances last year that included the IPOs of Uber Technologies Inc. UBER, Lyft Inc. LYFT, and WeWork's failed attempt.

Carvana Price Action

Carvana shares closed nearly 2.5% higher at $100.09 on Friday and remained unchanged in the after-hours market.