Trustpilot has hired Morgan Stanley to assist in raising funds ahead of its stock market floatation. Indeed, one of Europe’s fastest-growing internet start-ups has hired the bankers to secure new funding.
The online review website for consumers and businesses alike hopes to raise tens of millions of pounds from investors.
So far Trustpilot has raised about $140 million from investors. Additionally, sources have said that the latest round of funding could boost its valuation to over £1 billion.
It has not been made clear the exact amount Trustpilot hopes to raise in its latest round of funding.
Likewise, the timing or place of the eventual initial public offering has also not been specified.
The company’s current portfolio of investors includes Index Ventures, Northzone and Vitruvian Partners.
Trustpilot was founded in 2007 by Danish entrepreneur Peter Muhlmann. Today, the review platform may be one of the biggest names in Europe’s online economy. It employs roughly 700 people and an estimated 1,000,000 new reviews are posted each month.
The company last raised money last year. At that time, it has reported a recurring revenue run rate of £39 million. In addition, it had 34 million reviews of 180,000 businesses which were being viewed at almost two billion times a month.
Trustpilot generates revenue by selling software as a service to companies. These companies pay for premium services relating to data insight. Equally, they pay for their reviews to be posted on Trustpilot’s website.
Trustpilot have not released a comment.
Last week, consumer group Which? found that various online sellers were offering free goods in return for positive product reviews. Additionally, earlier in April a BBC 5 live investigation revealed it was able to purchase a false, five-star recommendation on Trustpilot’s website.
Trustpilot is not the only company with an anticipated IPO. Indeed, last week Uber revealed it may be targeting a $120 billion (£91 billion) valuation.
At 19:57 GMT -4 yesterday, shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) were trading at -2.84%.
