While Eloqua’s move into the public markets was expected, the timing came as somewhat of a surprise to analysts because of the recent volatility of of the financial markets, which have caused other companies to delay IPOs.
In January 2011 Eloqua CEO Joe Payne said the company was meeting with analysts and taking steps to prepare for a public offering. “Great companies and great markets have a tendency to go public,” he then said in an exclusive interview with DemandGen Report. “We believe that [the marketing automation space] is a viable and important market.”
Payne also called the automation space an “inevitable market,” pointing out the direct impact the tools have on revenue generation. “We want to build our business so it’s attractive to investors,” he said. “That’s why we would point towards an IPO.”
Payne said Eloqua has approached the idea of an IPO with care, to ensure that the company stands in the small-to-mid- cap category and avoids getting lost among micro cap stocks. “We think we should have a $400-$500 million valuation,” he said. “To get there, we probably need to make sure we have $100 million-plus in revenue.”
Also in January 2011, Payne predicted that Eloqua would meet the $100 million-revenue mark in 2013 based on the company’s current subscription model and growth track.
While Eloqua is currently a private company, its GAAP revenue, customer account wins and best practices for an open approach among the marketing community are shared knowledge. Payne said the company would be fine with exposing other details that come with an IPO, as Eloqua is already open both internally and externally.
Eloqua has continued its aggressive growth strategy throughout 2011. For first half of 2011, Eloqua surpassed the 1,000 customer mark and now counts more than 80,000 users across the globe. The company also expanded abroad with a new office in Brussels. Europe now has roughly 200 customers and more than 5,000 users across the region. Major companies in EMEA using Eloqua include Sony and TalkTalk.
