Expensify aims to raise $280 million in Oregon’s first tech IPO since 2004

Expensify, an expense management software company, said Monday it hopes to raise up to $280 million in its open public equity offering, which would value the company at more than $2 billion.

Expensify established a price range for its stock offering between $23 and $25 per share. It has not set a date for its first public offering, but when a company sets the price range for its listing, the actual offering usually comes very soon after.

Since 2004, when semiconductor device manufacturer Cascade Microtech went public, no Oregon technology company has gone public. A $2 billion valuation would make Expensify the state’s ninth most valuable company.

Founded in 2008, Expensify says its software enables businesses and employees to easily manage their expense reports with smartphone apps and online tools. The company plans to list on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol EXFY.

Although Expensify moved its headquarters from San Francisco to Portland in 2017, the company is not an economic force in Oregon. At the end of June, it had just 140 employees, of whom only about 30 in Portland. They include Expensify CEO David Barrett.

However, an IPO will increase both Expensify’s visibility and the profile of Oregon’s technology sector. Technology is one of the state’s dominant industries, but until recently, the state served primarily as an outpost for Intel, Amazon, Google, and other major tech companies based elsewhere.

More broadly, the state is registering a series of public offerings after a 17-year drought. Drive-thru coffee chain Dutch Bros raised more than $500 million when it went public in September, and its shares have continued to rise. That company, based in Grants Pass, now has a market cap of over $12 million.

Wilsonville-based battery technology company ESS Tech went public last month by merging with an investment fund called a special acquisition company or a SPAC. Childcare chain KinderCare said it plans to return to public markets with an IPO in September. And Vacasa, a Portland vacation rental management company, plans to go public this fall with a valuation of $4.5 billion in another SPAC deal.

Expensify reported $65.0 million in revenue for the first six months of the year, up from $40.6 million in the same period of 2020. Earnings were $14.7 million, compared to $3.5 million in the first six months of 2020.

The small business made headlines nationwide last year when Barrett, its CEO, emailed its customers urging them to vote for Joe Biden in the current November election. The company plunged into political turmoil, just as other Portland-based tech companies such as Coinbase and New Relic sought to decouple their operations from social and cultural issues.

“There is the idea that as an entrepreneur you should be neutral”, Barrett told The Wall Street Journal last year. “We need more people to take up the fight and say, ‘I don’t like the status quo.’ “

— Mike Rogoway | [email protected] | Twitter: @rogoway |