Bullish Upsizes IPO to $990M, Attracts BlackRock & ARK Investors

Bullish, a global digital asset platform focused on institutional clients, just revealed that it has upsized its IPO to $990 million from $629 million. The Coindesk owner is now set to offer 30 million shares at $32 to $33 each, up from their earlier plan to sell 20.3 million shares at $28 to $31 each, as per a recent SEC filing.

Bullish’s IPO Valuation

At the top of its price range, Bullish would be worth about $4.82B, up from $4.2B, with 146.2M shares after the IPO. BlackRock and Cathie Wood’s ARK have also shown interest in buying up to $200M of the shares.

Bullish is also giving underwriters a 30-day window to buy up to 4.5 million extra shares at the IPO price, after fees. The company is set to debut on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker BLSH, and intends to use the IPO funds for general business needs and possible future acquisitions.

Top Banks Lead the Deal

JPMorgan and Jefferies are leading the IPO, with Citigroup acting as joint manager. Other lead managers include Cantor Fitzgerald, Deutsche Bank, and Société Générale. Co-managers are Canaccord, KBW, Stifel, Oppenheimer, and Rosenblatt, making for a strong group of financial institutions backing the deal.

Bullish’s $3B Asset Base and Stablecoin Plans

Notably, Bullish holds over $3 billion in liquid assets, including 24,000 bitcoin, 12,600 ether, and $418 million in cash and stablecoins, with limited exposure to DeFi. It also plans to convert part of its IPO proceeds into U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins, working with one or more issuers, according to its filing.

Bullish runs a digital asset platform for institutional clients across 50+ countries, excluding the US. In November 2023, it expanded into crypto media by buying CoinDesk from Digital Currency Group for $72.6 million.

Crypto IPOs Surge

With growing backing from the Trump administration, more crypto firms are making moves to enter public markets through IPOs, reflecting a rising trend in the industry. This trend picked up steam after Circle Internet Group’s $1.2 billion IPO in June sent its stock soaring, inspiring others to follow suit.

Bullish aimed to go public via a SPAC merger in 2021, targeting a valuation of nearly $9 billion, but dropped it in 2022. Other major crypto players like BitGo and Grayscale have filed for IPOs, while exchanges such as Kraken and OKX are considering going public.

Bullish is positioning itself as a major player in the institutional crypto space. Its strong liquidity, media ownership, and stablecoin strategy make it an IPO to watch!