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 256.9 million dollars in the year to January 31, 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.

The digitally-native retailer operates five locations across New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington DC.

But there were signs of recovery in the second half of the year, with revenue falling a smaller 9.3 percent to 72.7 million dollars.

And while the company’s total subscribers in the year dropped from 147,866 to 95,245 - and in terms of active users from 133,572 to 54,797 - those numbers recovered in the second half, with total subscribers increasing from 108,752 to 126,841, and active users from 54,228 to 97,614.