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It appears that 2018 is the year of ‘going public’.  Already, we have seen Dropbox and Spotify file for an IPO (Initial Public Offering) this year and it seems DocuSign is the next tech company to do the same.

DocuSign utilized a provision of the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act and submitted its IPO behind closed doors.  They will plan to reveal the IPO a couple weeks before its public debut.

A Story of Growth and Success

DocuSign provides electronic signature technology and digital transaction management services for facilitating electronic exchanges of signed documents.  Its features include authentication services, user identity management and workflow automation.

It’s inevitable that this San Francisco based company would eventually go public.  Since it was founded in 2003, they have raised over $500 million and spent 15 years as a private company. They have been valued at $3 billion and seen the likes of Intel Capital, Google Ventures, and Dell (just some of the few notable names) investing in their business.

DocuSign has a simple mission - to get the world’s businesses to sign documents digitally. North America is definitely the largest market, but global expansion is on the horizon including Europe, Asia, and Australia. There is competition in this market from brands like HelloSign and Adobe Sign, but DocuSign seems to be the most widely used for signing documents online.  In particular, insurance, healthcare, financial services, and real estate are among some of the industries DocuSign offers services for.  Within these industries, HR, legal, and sales departments use their services quite often to sign and send documents.  Large corporations have been able to capitalize on DocuSign to streamline their business, but smaller businesses and even individual users are also able utilize their services.

Why Now?

In early 2017, Dan Springer became the new CEO.  He was formerly the CEO of Responsys, the leading provider of enterprise-scale cloud-based business to consumer (B2C) marketing software.  Responsys went public and was eventually bought by Oracle for $1.5 billion.  With Springer now at the helm, DocuSign have a leader with the experience and expertise of taking a company public.

Realty ONE Group has seen the benefits of using DocuSign’s services in the last year. From HR to legal to Corporate Partnerships, Realty ONE Group employs DocuSign for all documents that need to be signed digitally.

With Dropbox offering its IPO this month and Spotify aiming to go public in April, DocuSign will shoot for Q2 or Q3 this year to make its Initial Public Offering!