3 unicorn takeaways from the Casper, One Medical IPOs

With Casper’s public offering earlier this week, we’ve closed the book on the first two venture-backed IPOs of note in 2020.

Casper,

joined by One Medical, carried over $870 million of private capital, venture and otherwise, across the finish line.

Even though each IPO featured an unprofitable tech-enabled business that had posted sub-30% growth and gross margins under 50% (far more, in the case of

One Medical),

they wound up miles apart in terms of their market reception

and resulting valuation

, measured in revenue multiples terms.

So what can we learn from the two IPOs as we look ahead to other unicorn debuts in 2020? A great number of things that help set the stage for the rest of 2020’s IPO class. Let’s discuss three observations that stick out the most.

Tech-enabled businesses can secure high-flying valuations in public offerings

The surprise of the year so far has been the public market’s reaction to One Medical’s IPO. The company, today worth $3.13 billion, is trading at 11.3x times the

top end of its 2019 revenue projections

(the company has yet to close the books on its Q4 accounting).