Video camera chip maker Ambarella is seeking to raise as much as $65 million in an initial public offering, according to a recent
filing with the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company has yet to disclose the number of shares that it will offer or the expected pricing terms.
Founded in 2004, Ambarella manufactures semiconductor processing products that help power a number of video capturing and photo sharing devices, including consumer cameras and IP security cameras. The company's recently released iOne System-on-Chip (SoC) solution – designed specifically for Google's Android platform – has helped it break into the burgeoning smartphone market.
Ambarella noted in its filing that it has shipped more than 15 million of its hallmark SoCs since its inception.
Although not a household name in the tech space, Ambarella has a fairly impressive balance sheet. The company recorded revenues of $94.7 million in the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2011, up from $71.5 million in the previous fiscal year. The chip developer said that it recorded net income in each quarter starting with the first three months of fiscal year 2010. Ambarella has also generated cash from operations in each of its last three fiscal years.
“Video content is growing at a significant rate,” the company noted in the SEC filing. “According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index, the sum of all forms of video, including television, video on demand, Internet and peer-to-peer, will be approximately 90 percent of global consumer IP traffic by 2015, and video will comprise 66 percent of total mobile data traffic in 2015, a 35 times increase in traffic over 2010.”
Ambarella joins a host of technology companies that have recently made plans to go public, including Pandora, GroupOn and CafePress. Internet firms like LinkedIn and Yandex have each recently experienced success going down the IPO track.
The joint book-running managers for the Ambarella offering are Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.
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Beecher Tuttle is a TechZone360 contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Jennifer Russell