It's been a rough week for unicorns - but Peloton (PELOTON) wants to break the late-September swoon with an IPO that could value it at more than $8 billion.
Data reflects a company on the rise, growing in many aspects; but widening losses may throw a wet towel on investor enthusiasm that drove share prices of so many other startups' 2019 IPOs higher upon their market debut. A look at the data reflects a company that's very much in growth mode, and addressing some of its prior shortcomings.
Peloton is growing, and in a big way. The cycling startup crossed the 1,000 employee threshold earlier this year, and has added more than 50% in staffing since 2019 began. And, because we're able to hone in on specifically where - and what - Peloton is hiring for, it shines a bright light on the company's plans to keep consumers happy.
Field Operations & Retail are increasingly where they're hiring more - the company effectively made the decision to bring "in-house" more delivery and installation roles after a spate of consumer complaints. While it is likely good news, from a quality control perspective, that Peloton is doing more to better manage the hardware implementation part of its customer relationship management work, hiring more staff could weigh on the New York-based startup. In fact, 2019 losses rose to more than $245 million from prior full-year losses of $48 million, investors learned when Peloton filed its IPO paperwork.
Going hand-in-hand with Peloton's decision to ramp up delivery and installation services, the gym disruptor has opened more showrooms, growing them about 150% to 126 (from 51 earlier this year).
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.