The IPO market got an extra spring in its step when fitness band maker Fitbit (NYSE:FIT) went public in June, so it should be no surprise that people are talking about SoulCycle, the indoor cycling chain with an nearly cult-like following, after it filed for an IPO on Thursday. In a filing with the Securities and Exchanges Commission, the company noted that it was rated the sixth most influential brand on Twitter at the most recent Consumer Electronics Show.
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Larry Segall, who previously served as Equinox’s chief financial officer for 10 years, will be SoulCycle’s CFO.
According to its preliminary prospectus, SoulCycle – which offers immersive, high-intensity spinning classes – has been growing by leaps and bounds. That would give the company a $900 million valuation, which in turn would translate into 15 times expected 2016 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, those sources said (this metric, commonly known as EBITDA, is a rough cash flow measure). Last year, people came to SoulCycle for 2.9 million rides, up from 969,000 rides in 2012.
The company didn’t list any details of how much it was looking to raise.
Soul Cycle is planning to open a studio on Boston’s Boylston Street this fall.
And according to SoulCycle’s filing, build and expand it will. Here’s what you need to know about the studio’s IPO. The company cited grassroots marketing initiatives, digital engagement programs and social responsibility activities as nurturing the growth of the brand.
But the filing does warn potential investors that, “We have also benefited in the past from favorable publicity related to celebrities riding in our studios”.
“Our riders move in union as a pack to the beat”, said the company, which launched in 2006. In the risk factors included in the filing, SoulCycle said “a failure to gain acceptance in new markets may have an adverse effect on our business and rate of growth”.
SoulCycle had approximately 1,237 employees as of March 31: 212 instructors, 156 corporate personnel and 869 total employees.
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Founded in 2006 by two New York women sick of “fitness routines that felt like work”, SoulCycle began with a single studio on the Upper West Side with 31 bikes. The company, which is owned in part by fitness studio giant Equinox, is working with Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, among others, to go public.
