In an expected move, Veeva Systems has filed paperwork to raise up to $150 million in an initial public offering. The fast-growing provider of cloud-based software for sales groups in life sciences would like to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "VEEV."
Software developer and Veeva CEO Peter Gassner co-founded the company in 2007 after serving as senior vice president of technology at Salesforce.com, a cloud-computing juggernaut with more than 100,000 customers worldwide. Veeva offers a web-based software package for pharma marketing reps. The company pays millions of dollars for the ability to operate its flagship product, Veeva CRM, on Salesforce.com's cloud computing platform.
Pleasanton, CA-based Veeva has been growing rapidly and serves some of the largest drugmakers in the world, including pharma companies such as Merck ($MRK) and Eli Lilly ($LLY) as well as biotech giants like Gilead Sciences ($GILD). In the company's fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2013, Veeva recorded a profit of $18.8 million on revenue of $129.5 million, which was more than double its revenue in the previous fiscal year.
With 593 employees as of July 31, Veeva said that its sales for the first 6 months of the current fiscal year were $92.4 million, representing year-over-year growth of 71% and marking slower growth than previous years. However, the company is still gaining on its larger rival Oracle ($ORCL), and maturing tech companies like Veeva typically do not double their revenue every year for very long.
Reuters reported in April that Veeva was likely to attempt an IPO this year.
- here's the S-1 filing
- and an article from Reuters