Rokt vetting bankers for potential fall IPO

Rokt, an e-commerce tech provider, is interviewing investment banks for a potential fall IPO, CEO Bruce Buchanan tells Axios exclusively.

Why it matters: The public markets outlook for late 2023 looks sunnier than last year, and Rokt could be one of several listings.

Details: CFO Nathaniel Katz, who is now settled in after coming on board in early November, is overseeing the vetting process and is also interviewing secondary banks, Buchanan says.

• Buchanan says his mandate is to be IPO ready to give shareholders a full range of liquidity options.
• The company could also elect not to go public, with a secondary share sell or a sale to a strategic among other options, Buchanan says

Driving the news: Rokt sees an opportunity to attract talent amid industry layoffs with its new Seattle office, led by former Amazon exec John Walzer, Buchanan says.

• Walzer and SVP of engineering Noel Cutis, who recently served as VP of technology at GrubHub, are the two latest hires, says Bill Barton, chief product and engineering officer.
• "The hiring is to accelerate bringing the vision we already have to fruition. We have more strategy than we have people to deliver against it," Barton says.
• Rokt has grown by double-digits year over year for several years.
• "We're profitable, we have money in the bank, we can afford to grow," Barton adds.

Of note: Despite more worker availability, there still isn't downward pressure on compensation for top talent, Barton says.

• Rokt also continues to pursue a hybrid work strategy with its Seattle office, Buchanan says.
• While working from home can increase productivity, Rokt has an apprenticeship model where junior colleagues spend time with senior management to learn leadership skills, he notes.

What's next: Rokt is leveraging machine learning to apply relevant product offers to purchases, adding more value to the cart in terms of upsells and cross-sells, Barton explains.

• If someone is buying tickets via Ticketmaster, for example, Rokt would offer to pair those tickets with parking or to provide insurance for those tickets, he says.
• When the customer gets ready to pay, Roks interjects with offers from payment providers such as American Express or Wells Fargo, Barton says.
• The payments marketplace, which is new, will gain momentum this year and contribute materially to revenue, he points out.
• The payment confirmation page, which is currently the core of the company's business, is where Rokt unlocks product offerings — such as three free months of the streaming service Hulu, for example.