Jive Software plans to raise $100 million in IPO

Creator of enterprise collaboration software and social marketing tools files to go public

Jive Software, a provider of social business software, on Wednesday filed an S-1 form signalling that it intends to go public and raise $100 million in the offering. The company will be listed on Nasdaq under the symbol “JIVE.”

The number of shares to be sold and their price range has not yet been determined by Jive.

Social--from the company’s internals to its public face--is what Jive does. The company offers collaboration software for employees, social marketing management, intelligent sales enabling, customer support solutions and more.

Current clients include Nike, Cisco, SAP and several other prominent businesses and brands.

Jive’s revenues for the six months ending June 30th total just nearly $34.0 million, according to today’s published SEC filing. In the same period last year, Jive made $19.2 million in revenues.

Earnings, however, are not so hot. For the six months ending June 30th, Jive reports a net loss of about $30.6 million. The company reported a net loss of about $13.3 million in those same six months last year.

Listed as the number one risk factor, Jive does not expect to be profitable “for the foreseeable future.” This is because the company still has ambitious plans to improve its infrastructure and to continue developing its solutions. And, as Jive notes, the social media landscape in regard to businesses is still “in its early stages of development,” meaning there’s no telling how many more customers the company can sign up in the coming months and years.

Plus, competition is fierce: a short list of social media marketing and/or enterprise software companies might include BrightIdea, Hearsay Social, Ignite Social Media, Shoutlet, Spigit and Zuberance. There are uncountable more.

Headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., with offices across North America, South America and Europe, Jive is an international force with tons of fuel for its cause. Over the last four years, the company had raised over $50 million in venture capital primarily from Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Book-running Jive’s IPO will be Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, with help from Citigroup Global Markets and UBS Securities. BMO Capital Markets and Wells Fargo Securities will act as co-managers.