IPO better positions Borderfree for digital mission

Borderfree is a digital company focused on helping retailers sell to anyone anywhere and last Friday the company sold itself to investor’s by completing an initial public stock offering.

The company priced its offering of five million shares at $16 and enjoyed a 32% pop at the open when shares began trading at $21. The upward momentum proved to be unsustainable and by the close shares had receded to $20, registering a still respectable first day gain of 25%.

New York City-based company views itself as market leader in international cross-border e-commerce solutions, operating a technology and services platform that enables U.S. retailers to transact with customers in more than 100 countries and territories and more than 60 currencies worldwide. The company manages all aspects of the international shopping experience including such as site localization, multi-currency pricing, payment processing, fraud management, landed cost calculation, customs clearance and brokerage, and global logistics services. And says it does it all while maintaining the integrity of its customers’ brands and the consumer experience.

Borderfree is eyeing a huge market opportunity with cross-border consumers are expected to spend $24 billion on physical goods from U.S. online retailers in 2014, based on a study conducted on the company’s behalf by Forrester Research. Despite the large volume, Borderfree asserts that the market remains significantly under-monetized by U.S. retailers, many of whom view international expansion as important to their overall business strategies.

The company counts retailers and brands such as Aeropostale, J.Crew, Lands’ End, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Under Armour, Warby Parker and Williams-Sonoma among its customers. As of December 31, 2013, Borderfree said its platform was being used by 91 customers operating 158 Web sites and processed sales volume of $448 million. Founded in 1999, Borderfree didn’t launch its e-commerce platform until 2008. It now appears to be on the path to profitability, generating net income of $5.7 million last year, including a $6.7 million one-time gain on the sale of a business, a $200,000 profit in 2012 and a $700,000 loss in 2013.