John Cook, VC reporter for the Seattle PI, put out his 2007 predictions column today. Interviewing a number of Puget Sound venture capitalists, he predicts that Zillow will attempt an IPO.
That’s pretty bold speculation, but not far off the mark, the more I think of it. Zillow’s investors (Benchmark Capital, Par Capital Management and Technology Crossover Ventures) have dumped an enormous amount of money into the company and I’m still not convinced that their advertising model alone can recoup their startup costs and tackle what’s got to be a huge monthly burn rate.
There’s no doubt that the investors will be looking for a payoff on their $57 million investment at some point, so the question is will it be come from an IPO or an acquisition?
But then I guess the bigger question is, if Zillow IPOs, would you buy?
