Despite what Bill Gurley describes as revenue and a valuation "well north of what you might expect for a public company," LiveOps chose $28 million from an investment consortium led by Benchmark Capital rather than pursue an IPO. To me, that indicates revenue in excess of $40 million at a valuation higher than $250 million. Not bad, considering the company said it's annual revenue is nearly doubling each year.
Benchmark general partner Gurley didn't really explain to The Deal's Paul Bonanos why call center operator LiveOps opted for private money over the public kind except to say that it wanted to hire a new chief executive with significant operational expertise. Two months ago, LiveOps introduced former eBay COO Maynard Webb as its CEO. Webb was introduced to LiveOps by Gurley, whom he had known through the firm's early investment in eBay.
The latest funding brings LiveOps' total take to $40 million, not including the $10 million from the second round that went to the founders. Early investors include CMEA Ventures and Menlo Ventures. If LiveOps can maintain its momentum, it may be added to the growing IPO queue later this year.
For more on LiveOps, see:
Folksonomy
The Deal
Tags: liveops, benchmark+capital, vc, venture+capital, ipo
Continue reading below
