Skims Upcoming IPO: Shaping up for a potential public launch

While plenty of people have their opinions about the Kardashians — some positive, some not — there's no denying that the family has been able to turn fame into entrepreneurial success. One of the best examples of this phenomenon is Kim Kardashian's fashion brand Skims.

Since launching in 2019, the brand has soared in both pop culture and the finance world, earning a $4 billion post-money valuation with its last primary funding round in 2023.³

Now, Skims is reportedly eying an IPO for as soon as early 2025, according to The Information.⁴ That said, the company was previously speculated to be a strong IPO candidate for a 2024 IPO,⁵ and that did not materialize, so patience may be in order.

Skims did take steps like hiring former Nike VP, Investor Relations — Andy Muir — as CFO in 2022,⁶ which helped fuel IPO rumors. However, shortly after raising its Series C in 2023, Skims co-founder Jens Grede told The New York Times that while there had been investor interest Skims was in no rush, though, "At some point in the future, Skims deserves to be a public company.”⁷

Skims: company background

Skims is a fashion/clothing brand that sells shapewear, underwear, and other clothing items. The company was founded in 2018 and officially launched in September 2019 by selling items such as bodysuits and bras. Since then, it has expanded into other areas such as loungewear and swimwear, as well as launching a line for men.⁸

The company was founded by Kim Kardashian, alongside entrepreneurial couple Jens Grede and Emma Grede. That pairing came partly as a result of Emma Grede having previously worked with Kim's sister, Khloé Kardashian, to create the denim brand Good American.⁹

Meeting modern demands for style and inclusivity

Skims has quickly become part of the zeitgeist, in part due to clever marketing and the power of Kim Kardashian's celebrity status. The brand has successfully partnered with other celebrities for promotion10 and has scored partnerships like becoming the official underwear partner of the NBA, WNBA, and USA Basketball.¹¹

In addition to strong branding, Skims has found success by keeping up with evolving style preferences and offering more inclusivity, such as in terms of sizes and colors for shapewear and undergarments that align with a broader range of body shapes and skin tones, as an Inc. article notes.¹²

Plus, Skims is growing from its Direct to Consumer (DTC) roots by opening brick-and-mortar retail stores, starting in Washington D.C., with stores soon coming to New York and Los Angeles, among other major cities.¹³

Meanwhile, the company's revenue has grown from $145 million in 2020¹⁴ to nearly $1 billion in net sales in 2023.¹⁵

Skims stock price history

At this time, Skims' Forge Price is not available, but check back to see if additional trading activity or data releases enable Forge to compute a current stock price. Forge Price is a derived data point that reflects the up-to-date price performance of venture-backed, late-stage companies, and is calculated based on a proprietary model incorporating pricing inputs from primary funding round information, secondary market transactions, and indications of interest (IOIs) on Forge.

Skims' primary funding rounds price per share started with a seed round in March 2019 priced at $2.00 per share, which jumped all the way to $109.14 with its Series A and $142.61 with its Series A-1, which took place in April 2021.

Skims' Series B in January 2022 took the price to $273.30, and most recently, its July 2023 Series C brought the price per share all the way to $345.90.¹⁶

Skims funding history and private market valuation

As mentioned, Skims started with a nearly $4 million seed round in 2019 funded by Imaginary Ventures. At that time, the seed round valued Skims at $16.77 million.¹⁷

Skims then brought in over $150 million in investment from Thrive Capital and Alliance Consumer Growth, alongside Imaginary Ventures again, for its Series A/A-1 in 2021, which brought the company into unicorn status with a $1.6 billion valuation.¹⁸

Its Series B in 2022 included investment from Lone Pine Capital and D1 Capital Partners, alongside more investment from Thrive Capital, Imaginary Ventures, and Alliance Consumer Growth. This round totaled over $240 million and brought Skims' valuation to $3.2 billion.¹⁹

Lastly, its Series C in 2023 raised nearly $330 million, bringing the funding-to-date to nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars and a post-money valuation of $4 billion. This funding round included investment from Wellington Management and Greenoaks Capital Partners, along with further investment from D1 Capital Partners and Imaginary Ventures.²⁰

Looking ahead

While Skims has not specified an exact IPO timeline, it has long been rumored to be seeking an IPO. If public market conditions improve in 2025 as many expect²¹, then Skims looks like a potential IPO candidate. According to The Information, in the summer of 2024, Skims was reportedly looking to interview banks to help lead an IPO that could occur as soon as the first half of 2025,²² though it remains to be seen if this has resulted in actual hirings of underwriters.

Check back here or take a look at Forge’s upcoming IPO calendar to stay in the loop about a possible Skims IPO and other pending public offerings.

If you’re interested in investing in private companies like Skims before they go public, read more about pre-IPO investing or register on Forge Markets today to get started.