Last week, Opera Ltd., the parent company of Opera Software, a company that makes and operates the mobile and desktop browser Opera, has recently filed for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer Bitmain is said to be investing $50 million.
Opera’s move, according to Reuters, will see the company raise up to $115 million. It will list its American Depositary Shares on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker “OPRA.” Its products, per reports, have over 320 million active users per month, giving it a 1.5 percent share of the web browser market.
The company is said to be planning on selling $50 million to Tosping Technology Ltd., and another $10 million to two other buyers. Tospring is also known Bitmain, a company that reportedly had a profit of $3 to $4 billion last year.
Opera itself isn’t notably closely related to the cryptocurrency ecosystem, but has offered its users attractive tools in its browsers. These include cryptojacking protection that stops malware from using their CPU resources to mine cryptos, and a currency converter that works with cryptocurrencies.
Use Opera´s video pop-out feature and seamlessly watch your favorite football games. ⚽ Try it on Opera for computers: https://t.co/55SyaMRhJh pic.twitter.com/dlabk8HNnq
— Opera (@opera) June 26, 2018
The software company will reportedly use the IPO’s proceeds on research and development (R&D), marketing, strategic partnerships, and working capital. Its products automatically block ads, so Opera makes money through agreements with various partners.
In 2016, Opera made $107 million in revenue, but lost $12.7 million that year. Last year, it made $129 million in revenue, out of which $6.1 million were profit. Bitmain, as CryptoGlobe covered, has been developing operations outside of China, in the US.
As reported the company, led by 32-year-old Jihan Wu, was considering its own IPO last month, as it was looking to expand even further Currently, its mining operations concern some in the BTC community, as its mining pools come close to having 51 percent of the network’s hashrate.