Solera IPO: S1 Breakdown

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“Revolutionizing the vehicle lifecycle ecosystem through AI-powered data and software.”

Source: Solera S1. Also, this wins the generic stock photo of the year award

Key Figures

Total Revenue: $2.4B, +3.5% y/y
- Recurring Revenue: $2.2B, +3.9% y/y
Customers: +280,000
Net Dollar Retention Rate: 119%
Gross Margin: 60%, +1% y/y
Net Loss: ($486M) in FY24, an increase from ($381M) in FY23
- Free Cash Flows of $93M (up from $25M in prior year, but flat compared to two years ago)
Current Cash on Balance Sheet: $163M
- Excludes revolvers they can tap into
Long Term Debt: **$8.1 BILLION**
- They paid $940M in interest expenses last year 🤯

Guess Who’s Back? Back Again: Solera’s back, tell a friend. They originally went public in 2007, and were taken private by Vista and Koch in 2016. The plan was to flip this bad Larry again into the public markets in 2021, but then the economy happened.
A Data Company, Dressed as an Auto Company: Solera is a data and workflow company at its core, processing the exhaust (no pun intended) produced by the automotive industry, from claims to repairs.
A Patchwork of Principalities: They’ve done more than 50 acquisitions since 2006 and spent nearly $8 billion on companies since 2011.
In Debt Up to Their Eyes Balls: Solera intends to use the bulk of proceeds from the offering to repay debt. Peep the subtle add back in their EBITDA bridge

Source: Solera S1

Anemic Growth, and a history of losses: Revenue is growing in the low single digits, which is on par with the overall auto industry. Solera generated $93.5M in free cash flow, but lost nearly half a billion on paper. Most of the loss was due to their debt burden.