Tech: Blue Apron has filed to go public — and it lost almost as much last quarter as it did all last year

The company has spent a lot on marketing.

Meal-delivery service Blue Apron on Thursday offered a detailed look at its financials for the first time as it filed to go public.

The main takeaways: Revenue is growing. With the company spending a ton on marketing, so too are losses. And Blue Apron, which was valued at $2 billion in its last venture round, says investors can expect more of the latter.

"We have a history of losses, and we may be unable to achieve or sustain profitability," the company says in its S1 filing.

Goldman Sachs is leading the offering, but we don't know yet what Blue Apron expects to raise in the IPO, because it hasn't priced its shares or said how many it plans to sell.

The company's financials offer a mixed bag for potential investors.

On the one hand, its losses have grown year-over year:

2014: Lost $30.8 million

2015: Lost $47 million

2016: Lost $54.9 million

On the other hand, its revenues have been growing at a much faster clip:

2014: $77 million

2015: $340 million

2016: $795 million

Much of the reason for the losses can be blamed on all the money the company spends on marketing. (If you've ever listened to any major podcast, you've probably heard a Blue Apron ad.) The company spent $144.1 million, or 24.8% of its revenue, on marketing in 2016.

At the end of March, it had about $61.2 million in cash on hand. But it also had $99.6 million in long-term debt. And in the first quarter, its free cash flow was in the red to the tune of $74 million.

The company seems to be gaining traction with consumers. Some 1 million customers paid for Blue Apron orders in the first quarter this year. That was up from 649,000 customers in the same period last year.

But average order sizes were down slightly year-over-year, falling from $59.28 in the March quarter of 2016 and $57.23 in the same quarter of 2017. And the average number of orders per customer per quarter dropped from 4.5 in the first quarter last year to 4.1 in the most recent period.

Here's an interesting look at the ages of Blue Apron customers. A plurality are 25 to 34 years old. (Millennials!) This chart also comes from the S-1:

As for executive compensation, CEO Matthew Salzberg was paid $415,560 in salary and bonus. Salzberg also owes 47.4 million shares, or 31% of the company. CFO Bradley Dickerson was paid $4.2 million in salary, bonus, and stock options. SVP of operations Pablo Cussatti made $605,019 in salary, bonus, and options.

Bessemer Venture Partners is the second largest shareholder after Salzberg with 36 million shares, giving it a 23.8% stake. First Round Capital owns about 11% of the company.

Blue Apron was founded in 2012 and has raised nearly $194 million in funding to date. It was last valued around $2 billion. The company is known for sending pre-packaged and pre-measured meal ingredients directly to customers, along with the recipes to make the meal.

from pulse.ng - Nigeria's entertainment & lifestyle platform online