Bill.com from Investment to IPO

On December 12 of last year, accounts payable (A/P) automation pioneer Bill.com held its heavily oversubscribed initial public offering, raising a total of $216 million at $22 share, well above the initially expected $16-18 price range. Since the IPO, Bill.com’s shares have traded up to $55.81 per share as of February 7th, an increase of 154%, making it 2019’s second most successful IPO of a Bay Area tech company.

While Commerce Ventures has been an investor in Bill.com since 2013, the relationship dates back much further to 2009, when the company was raising an early funding round and Dan Rosen (then a Principal at Highland Capital Partners) was introduced to Founder/ CEO Rene Lacerte by a mutual friend to consider a potential investment. While the two didn’t end up working together at that stage, Dan and Rene kept in touch and reconnected shortly after the inception of Commerce Ventures in the context of participating in the Bill.com’s 2013 financing round led by Scale Ventures.

Since our initial investment, we’ve had the pleasure of watching Bill.com grow from early SaaS pioneer to quiet leadership in SMB-focus A/P automation. Much like the quiet confidence of Rene himself, Bill.com grew rapidly without much fanfare or hype, even as other payments players (AvidXchange, Square, Stripe) were grabbing headlines from new financings and other news. This approach is such an important part of what has made Bill.com and Rene so successful. Rather than demanding attention and raising unending amounts of capital, he maintained a more modest burn and public profile – and focused on delivering with the best possible execution.

So, fast forward to November 2019…Bill.com caught many by surprise when they filed their S-1 and the market realized their size and scale. Fresh on the heels of the WeWork attempted IPO, Bill.com seemed to typify a much more rationale approach to building a business. We suspect that this is what public investors have seen and appreciate about Bill.com. Moreover, it’s addressing an enormous market opportunity that is barely penetrated by most reasonable estimations.

Regardless of why other investors like Bill.com, we at Commerce Ventures are truly proud and very grateful to have been a small part of their story and we look forward to seeing all of the amazing accomplishments yet to come for the company.

NOTE: Although a fund affiliated with Commerce Ventures holds shares in Bill.com, we do not possess any material non-public information, nor is the preceding piece meant to advise any investor with respect to investment decisions relating to the company.