By Echo Wang and Anirban Sen
(Reuters) - E-commerce logistics provider ShipBob is seeking to hire underwriters for a U.S. initial public offering (IPO) that could be launched this year, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Chicago-based company has invited several major investment banks, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Bank of America and Barclays, to pitch for underwriter roles on the IPO, the sources said.
The IPO could value ShipBob at as much as $4 billion, one of the sources said. The sources requested anonymity because the matter is confidential.
ShipBob, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Citi and Bank of America did not immediately respond to requests for comment. JPMorgan declined to comment.
The U.S. IPO market is slowly recovering after two years of subdued activity. Last week, athletic apparel maker Amer Sports raised $1.37 billion in a discounted U.S. IPO, one week after BrightSpring Health Services priced its $633 million offering below its indicated range.
ShipBob, which handles fulfilment for small and medium-sized e-commerce businesses, named former Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) logistics executive Melissa Nick as its first chief supply chain officer last year, and most recently added former Grubhub CEO Adam DeWitt as its first independent board member.
Founded in 2014, ShipBob raised $200 million at a valuation of more than $1 billion in a private funding round in 2021 led by Bain Capital Ventures.
ShipBob also counts SoftBank (TYO:9984) Group, Menlo Ventures and Y Combinator amongst its prominent investors.