Explore potential ways to own Skims stock before and during the Skims IPO. Get access to select pre-IPO startups at Equitybee.
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Recent Skims Stock IPO News
07/19/2023: Kim Kardashian Just Got $500 Million Richer
07/19/2023: Kim Kardashian’s Skims Is Now Worth $4 Billion
05/11/2022: Jens and Emma Grede – the brains behind Skims
01/27/2022: Skims Doubles Valuation to $3.2 Billion
04/09/2021: Kardashian’s Billion-Dollar Brand Defies the Pandemic
10/26/2020: Kim Kardashian West: On shapewear
08/26/2019: Kim Kardashian names shapewear company Skims
What is Skims?
Skims is a women’s apparel company creating the next generation of underwear, loungewear, and shapewear.
The brand was founded in 2018 by Kim Kardashian, Jens Grede, and Emma Grede. The company leverages the Kardashian personal brand, her social media presence, and the influence of other social media creators and celebrities to promote its products.
Skims products come in nine sizes and skin tone shades to be inclusive to all body types. Its products are designed for comfort, concealment, and body positivity.
The founders originally named the company “Kimono”, but Kardashian received negative responses to the name, accusing it of being insensitive to Japanese culture. She changed the name to Skims in August 2019.
Skims plans to expand into menswear and open brick-and-mortar stores in the coming years.
Will the company make it possible for “every body” to invest in the Skims IPO? Or at least its customers?
Offering Skims IPO shares to customers could empower thousands of women to become investors. For many, it may be their first chance to invest in the stock market.
This can happen if customers ask for it.
Here’s the latest Skims promotional video:
Is Skims Stock Publicly Traded Today?
No. Skims is a private company.
Who Owns Skims?
The primary Skims ownership includes its cofounders Kim Kardashian, Jens Grede, and Emma Grede.
Forbes estimates Kardashian owns at least a third of the company. The Grede’s ownership stake is enough for the trio to maintain a majority.
Other owners include venture capital investors and possibly company executives and employees.
The latest funding round, Series C, was completed in July 2023 and raised $270 million for expansion into menswear and physical store locations.
The company has raised $670 million in venture capital funding.
Prominent venture capital investors include Thrive Capital, Imaginary Ventures, Alliance Consumer Growth, Wellington Management, Greenoaks Capital Partners, Lone Pine Capital, and D1 Capital Partners.
Skims Valuation
The July 2023 funding round confirmed the Skims valuation at $4 billion.
The company is profitable and had revenues of approximately $500 million in 2022. It is on track to sell $750 million in merchandise in 2023, according to an interview with Jens Grede in The New York Times.
When is the Skims IPO Date?
The Skims IPO date is currently unknown.
In May 2022, cofounder Jens Grede said to the Financial Times regarding an IPO:
At some point, we will. It deserves to become a public company, and the beauty of it is that Kim [Kardashian] and I don’t have to decide that right now.
In July 2023, Grede told the New York Times that he and Kardashian were “in no rush” but that investors had shown interest in consumer-facing businesses in recent months.
At some point in the future, Skims deserves to be a public company.
If IPO sentiment continues to improve in 2023, we could see a Skims IPO in 2024. Alternatively, the company may pursue a Series D financing round to increase its private valuation headed into an IPO.
Skims joins Vuori as two leading private apparel empires built on social media influence.
What is the Skims Stock Symbol? Skims Ticker?
There is no Skims stock symbol yet because it is a private company.
We can speculate about the Skims ticker before it pursues an IPO. The following Skims ticker suggestions are available in the U.S.:
- SKIM
- SKMS
- KIMK
What is the Skims Stock Price?
A public Skims stock price does not exist because the company remains private.
Can You Access Skims Shares via Pre-IPO Marketplaces?
The author has not seen evidence of Skims stock availability on prominent pre-IPO investing platforms.
The founders have thus far retained majority ownership. Ownership beyond the founders and venture capital investors is opaque. Pre-IPO availability is typically dependent on the number of employees that own stock.
I expect to see at least one additional private funding round before an IPO unless the IPO market for retailers heats up.
That said, the company is profitable and has founders with deep pockets, and may not need additional private funding rounds.
An additional private funding round that increases the valuation could make it more likely there will be pre-IPO access to retail investors.
How to Invest in Skims Stock
Since Skims is a private company with limited venture capital investors and employee ownership, it is challenging for retail investors to become equity owners today. The cofounders own a majority of shares, drastically limiting share availability.
However, you can increase your chances of early equity ownership or obtain shares in the IPO by taking the actions outlined below.
1. Monitor Skims stock availability on pre-IPO investing platforms
The author has not seen evidence of Skims stock being available on pre-IPO platforms and does not believe these opportunities will be plentiful or likely.
However, investors can still monitor pre-IPO investing platforms such as EquityZen, Equitybee, Forge Global, and Linqto for share availability.
Expect to pay at least a $10,000 investment minimum. In some cases, the minimum investment is much higher.
Signing up for online access to pre-IPO data and deal alerts is free.
Non-accredited retail investors can bypass the accreditation requirement to own pre-IPO companies by owning the Fundrise Innovation Fund.
But pre-IPO investors cannot select individual companies, and Skims stock is currently not present in the portfolio.
Please note: This is a testimonial in partnership with Fundrise. We earn a commission from partner links on AccessIPOs.com. All opinions are my own.
2. Become a Skims customer and ask for IPO access (via a Directed Share Program)
Will Skims customers get a chance to invest in the Skims IPO?
Maybe, if they ask for it. A Skims directed share program could give IPO access to “every body”.
When companies file their S-1 SEC filing (to begin the IPO process), they sometimes include a directed share program for executives, affiliates, and loyal customers.
Skims can attribute its success to its customers and affiliates. Companies can use the IPO as an opportunity to reward them.
This has happened before.
Uber offered shares to drivers that completed a certain number of trips.
GoPro offered shares to its email list.
Airbnb offered IPO shares to hosts.
Robinhood offered IPO shares to its customers.
Considering Skim’s vast customer base (and its influencer base), offering them IPO access could be a profitable gesture.
As the Skims IPO approaches, monitor your emails to see if they offer shares to customers. Sign up for the email, and become a frequent buyer to improve your chances. You may get a shot at IPO shares.
Skims, if you’re reading this, please consider options to offer shares to your customers and retail investors. Retail investors are less likely to “flip” shares, hold shares for longer, and generally make better shareholders than Wall Street’s richest clients.
What better way to reward loyal customers?
Bookmark this page for more information as the IPO approaches.
3. Access IPO Shares Through a Broker
If Skims eventually pursues an IPO to become a public company, nimble investors may find investment opportunities via participating online brokers.
The following online brokers give their users access to IPOs:
IPO underwriters control where IPO shares get distributed. However, sometimes their clients ask them to provide some access to retail investors. Typically, this amounts to about 5% of shares.
Most shares will go to the underwriter’s wealth clients. But retail investors are getting some allocation, even in the hottest IPOs.
We learn about this access in the S-1 filings, which come out a month or two before the IPO, then get updated with more details as the IPO approaches. Usually, one week out, we learn which brokers will get access.
The brokers in the list above are the most likely to offer shares to retail investors.
TradeStation has a longer track record of accessing more than 360 IPOs and secondary offerings via its partnership with ClickIPO.
But Robinhood and SoFi Invest have the advantage of Silicon Valley networks and a history of getting allocations for high-profile IPOs.
Read the S-1 filings to find mentions of these online brokers to identify opportunities.
Check out this list of best brokers for IPO investing to learn more about IPO access for retail investors.
4. Buy the stock after the IPO
A Skims IPO may be a year away or never happen at all. Most retail investors will not acquire pre-IPO shares or receive an allocation if an IPO happens.
Waiting for stocks to become publicly traded before investing in them has its advantages.
The IPO provides investors with access to several sets of financials after a few quarters of reporting, whereas pre-IPO investing has limited financials available for review.
IPO stock prices typically rise with high-demand companies. You can benefit if you’re in early and sell when the price overheats.
But without IPO access, post-IPO investors may be tempted to acquire shares at inflated prices. A high-profile company that is profitable could generate.
Imagine Kim Kardashian posting pictures on Instagram from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Avoid purchasing overvalued shares immediately after the IPO, as they tend to experience a decline in value following lockup expirations and quarterly earnings disappointments.
In contrast, the most disruptive companies are likely to experience higher valuations a decade from now. Be selective and patient.
Where can I find the Skims S-1 Filing?
Skims has yet to release an S-1 filing to the public. News of a confidential or public S-1 filing would kick off the IPO process, suggesting the IPO could occur during the following two to six months.
Most companies start with a confidential filing.
The July 2023 funding round and interview with The New York Times suggest an IPO is possible in 2024 or 2025. So pay attention to future reports of a confidential filing to know when the company intends to IPO.
When the company releases the S-1 filing to investors, we’ll link to and embed the document on this web page.
In the meantime, you can check out the most recent S-1 filings in our S-1 filings feed.
Conclusion
Fans of Kim Kardashian and Skims customers may seek out an investment in a company they support and love.
Retail investors hope startups like Skims take note and work to offer IPO shares to their customers. Several online platforms make this easy, but underwriters usually reserve most shares for their wealthiest clients.
Acquiring ownership in Skims pre-IPO will be challenging for investors because the equity stack is limited to a handful of venture capital firms, and the cofounders have retained majority ownership.
A Skims IPO would make its owners much wealthier than they are today. While retaining ownership is mostly about control, relinquishing a percentage of ownership to public investors would increase the market capitalization, increasing the founders’ personal wealth.
Pre-IPO investing platforms have opened more opportunities for retail investors. But opportunities to invest in Skims stock will likely be limited to well-connected investors.
Temper your expectations if you’re interested in pursuing pre-IPO equity in Skims. You’ll likely need to wait for the IPO, which could be more than a year away.
Good luck if you wish to buy Skims stock before or during a potential IPO. Invest in pre-IPO and IPO companies at your own risk.
* Disclosure: The web page contains affiliate links from our partners. If a reader opens an account or buys a service from a link in this article, we may be compensated at no additional cost to the reader. Opening an account with a broker that provides access to IPOs does not guarantee the customer allocations of specific IPOs. The author is long HOOD, ABNB, and the Fundrise Innovation Fund.
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