Blackstone-backed Liftoff Mobile is reportedly targeting a valuation of up to USD 3.66 billion in its US initial public offering (IPO), in a renewed attempt to test investor appetite in markets.
As per Reuters, the California-based company is seeking to raise up to USD 418 million by offering 19 million shares priced between USD 20 and USD 22 each. That compares with the up to USD 762 million the digital advertising provider hoped to raise in its previous offering, which got cancelled in February 2026.
“The company’s renewed IPO push comes as the listings market was hit by a broad selloff in software-focused companies, which investors viewed as vulnerable to disruption from rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI),” reported Reuters.
While large software IPOs have remained absent this year, with investors reassessing valuations amid rapid advances on the AI front, Liftoff’s offering is expected to test whether appetite for software listings is returning.
After Liftoff’s last-minute IPO withdrawal in February, the market for new listings got hit with renewed jitters as sharp investor swings due to the Iran war weighed on the risk-on sentiment in equities. Hopes of a short-lived conflict, however, have pushed stock markets back up, despite the ongoing dilly-dally between Washington and Tehran over the ceasefire deal.
“If the firm is able to successfully pursue the IPO, it should pave the way for similar firms to go to market. It may also mean that the current bullishness and strong risk appetite for IPOs altogether outweigh the potential negativity around the valuation matrices for software stocks, which have been impacted so much by the fear over AI,” said Josef Schuster, CEO of Chicago-based financial services firm IPOX, which designs patented benchmark indexes tracking the performance of newly listed companies globally.
In 2021, Blackstone combined its portfolio companies Liftoff and Vungle to form Liftoff Mobile. The company provides marketing and monetisation tools for mobile app developers to help them acquire users and drive engagement.
Apart from Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Jefferies and Morgan Stanley have emerged as the joint lead book-running managers for the offering, after which Liftoff is looking to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker “LFTO”.