German startup incubator Rocket Internet is planning an initial public offering, according to a statement on its site.
Rocket Internet is most known for creating copy-cat companies — replicas of Internet companies that have already found success.
The company will float a roughly 15% stake in the company in an initial public offering worth close to $970 million or €750 million euros, Reuters reports. The IPO will list on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the company said in a statement.
Rocket Internet has been busy lately, perhaps building up to this IPO. In August it raised just over $1 billion dollars from strategic investments and by selling a 10.7% stake to United Internet, according to Forbes. Last week it consolidated five of its ecommerce sites from around the world into one giant called GFG.
We reached out to a spokesperson from Rocket Internet, but our request for comment has not been returned.
Founded in 2007, the company has largely focused on ecommmerce, selling everything from food to fashion to real estate. But the company is increasingly positioning itself as a platform. On its site, Rocket Internet touts itself as "the world's largest Internet platform outside the U.S. and China." Rather than cloning, the company says it builds business models that have already proven successful for untapped markets.
Perhaps this is just more positioning for its coming IPO.