Rent the Runway reveals drop in revenue as it files for IPO

Fashion rental platform Rent the Runway has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) and revealed a drop in revenue.

The New York-based business announced Monday it plans to list its Class A common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol ‘RENT’. The number of shares on offer and their price range have not yet been determined.

It comes after the company confidentially filed for a listing in July.

It’s unclear how big a valuation the business might be seeking in its IPO, but last year it was valued at 750 million dollars following a funding round - that was below its previous valuation of 1 billion dollars in 2019, according to Bloomberg News.

Revenues fall at Rent the Runway

The news comes as the business revealed a 38.6 percent drop in revenue to 157.5 million dollars in the fiscal year 2020, while its net loss grew to 171.1 million dollars from 153.9 million dollars a year earlier.

Rent the Runway was hit hard by the pandemic last year as going-out events were cancelled, forcing it to announce redundancies and close its entire physical store estate.

But there have been signs of recovery as markets reopened following lockdowns.

In the six months to July 31 of this year, revenue at the company fell a smaller 9.4 percent to 80.2 million dollars, while its net loss narrowed slightly by 3.8 percent to 84.7 million dollars.

Meanwhile, its total subscriber count increased to 126,841 in the six months ended July 31 2021 compared with 108,752 in the same period a year earlier, while its active subscriber count increased to 97,614 in the same time frame from 54,228 in 2020.