“IPOs: Back from the Dead?” BusinessWeek asked this morning—and, as if to answer, Lexington, MA-based Gomez filed for an offering worth up to $80.5 million. (And if that combination of events bizarrely fills your head with images of the dancing zombies from the “Thriller” video, well, you’re not alone.)
In its filing with the SEC, Gomez bills itself as a “leading provider of web experience management services, which customers use to test their web applications while in development and to monitor their web applications after deployment.” Those customers number more than 2,000 worldwide, according to the filing, and include Adobe Systems, Capital One, CBS Sportsline, DoubleClick, Expedia, Facebook, Home Depot, JPMorgan Chase, MTV Networks, Orbitz, USA TODAY, and Yahoo. Gomez sells its services on a subscription basis, pulling in revenue of $32.6 million in 2007. The firm was profitable in 2005 and 2006, but had a net loss of $2.3 million last year.
Gomez was formed in November 2001 to acquire the assets of Internet research and analysis firm Gomez Advisors. The firm’s largest stockholders include New York’s Dolphin Equity Partners, Germany’s AdAstra Erste Beteiligungs, the U.K.’s Doughty Hanson & Co., and Waltham, MA’s ABS Ventures. Gomez hopes to trade on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “GOMZ.”
