Business Development Company with Pre-IPO Focus
Keating Capital, Inc. (KIPO) is a publicly-traded Business Development Company (or BDC) that specializes in making pre-IPO investments in innovative, emerging growth companies that are committed to and capable of becoming public. We are non-controlling investors and do not require board seats and observation rights. Keating Capital is managed by Keating Investments, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser founded in 1997.
A Distinctive Form of Pre-IPO Investing
We provide investors with the ability to participate in a unique fund that allows our stockholders to share in the potential value accretion that we believe typically occurs once a company transforms from private to public status. Keating Capital’s shares are listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "KIPO."
Most of our portfolio company investments will typically represent about 5% of our total assets at the time we invest.
Growth Capital for Private Companies Seeking to Go Public
Private companies raise a final round of pre-IPO financing to strengthen their balance sheet and demonstrate continued investor commitment. And that’s where Keating Capital fits in: Keating Capital is an equity partner to private companies primed to become public.
Keating Capital is a later stage fund that targets private companies (typically with equity values between $100 million and $1 billion) seeking to complete an IPO within 18 months.
Changing IPO Market
The IPO market has changed dramatically over the last two decades. In the 1990s, a total of 4,088 companies went public, raising total gross proceeds of about $292 billion (average IPO size of about $70 million). Fast forward to the 2000s, and total gross proceeds for the decade increased slightly to about $323 billion, but there were only 1,395 IPOs in the period. So over the last 20 years, the number of IPOs has dropped by 66%, the average IPO size has quadrupled to gross proceeds of over $230 million today, and the average market capitalization for a newly public company exceeds $1 billion.
