San Diego’s Active Network, which operates a Web-based network that provides online registrations for everything from campsite reservations to tee times, filed for an IPO yesterday, proposing to raise $150 million.
The company, founded in 1998 to provide online registrations for marathons and triathlons, has expanded its services through acquisitions and organic growth. It now serves more than 47,000 organizations, including recreation leagues, educational institutions, corporations, government agencies, and non-profit groups. In addition to providing registration and marketing services for sports-related activities, the Active Network also serves local governments and parks and recreation departments that organize community activities, agencies that provide fishing and hunting licenses, and businesses holding conferences, retreats, and trade shows.
As we reported in September, the Active Network tried to go public in 2004, but withdrew its registration amid unfavorable market conditions. I also wrote a profile of CEO Dave Alberga in 2007 for The San Diego Union-Tribune.
The Active Network generates revenue primarily from technology fees paid by people who register for customer-sponsored events through the company’s cloud computing applications. The company also generates revenue from maintaining and hosting its software for customers, and from marketing services, which provides customers with online services, such as hosted websites, membership programs, and online communities as well event promotions and sponsorships. The company has more than 1,400 employees.
The Active Network says it processed more than 70 million registrations in 2010, generating almost $218 million in sales through the nine months ended Sept. 30. That was a 15.6 percent gain over sales of $188.5 million during the same period in 2009. The company shows a net loss of more than $18 million over the first nine months of last year.
Pricing terms and timing of the IPO were not disclosed.
