NerdWallet plans to raise up to $158 million in IPO

Personal finance site NerdWallet Inc. plans to raise up to $158 million in an initial public offering, according to a document filed Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The San Francisco-based company listed a stock price range of $17 to $19 per share in the filing. It plans to sell up to 8.3 million shares.

NerdWallet says it plans to use the proceeds to repay $29.3 million in loans and potentially for acquisitions — though none are planned — and strategic investments.

In the first nine months of 2021, NerdWallet reported revenue of $280.1 million and a net loss of $34.6 million compared to revenue of $188.6 million and net income of $8.7 million in the first nine months of 2020.

The net loss is primarily attributed to $207.8 million in sales and marketing expenses in the first nine months of 2021, nearly double the $108.4 million in sales and marketing expenses in the first nine months of 2020.

NerdWallet said in the filing that it has more than 100 staffers on its editorial team, including former staffers from Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal. The filing notes that one of its writers is Liz Weston. She has worked at the Los Angeles Times, MSN, and Reuters and wrote the book on how to improve a credit score.

“The work of writers like Liz, and of our editorial team as a whole, is not only a key reason consumers trust our brand and turn to us for many of their financial questions,” said NerdWallet in the filing. Its website averages about 20 million unique visitors per month.

Tim Chen is the chief executive officer of NerdWallet and is also chairman of he board. Chen previously worked at JAT Capital Management L.P. and Perry Capital as an investor and at Credit Suisse as an equity research associate. Chen holds a B.A. in economics from Stanford University.

NerdWallet says it plans to take advantage of the growing U.S. financial services digital advertising market, which is expected to be more than $23 billion in 2021, according to eMarketer.

The filing can be found here.