Meru values itself at more than $200m

Vendor set to bank $60m from upcoming IPO

Stock answer: Meru is going public having failed to bank a profit in its eight-year history

Wireless LAN vendor Meru Networks is set to rake in about $60m (£40m) from its initial public offering (IPO), with the firm's market capitalisation set to top $200m.

The California-based firm's IPO will contain 4.39 million common shares at between $13 and $15 per share. If the shares price in the mid to upper range of this bracket, Meru's market cap will comfortably exceed $200m. It is not known yet when the IPO will take place. Meru will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker MERU.

Meru was founded eight years ago and has raised well over $100m in venture capital funding since then. The firm's backers include Clearstone Venture Partners, Neocarta Ventures, Tenaya Capital, Evercore Ventures, Monitor Venture Partners, BlueStream Ventures and the DE Shaw Group. Meru has never banked a full-year profit and turned over $69m in 2009.

Late last year the vendor confirmed its intention to go public, bringing to an end several years of speculation that the firm was looking for a buyer. Recent research from VentureSource revealed venture capital investment in US IT start-ups plummeted 35 per cent annually in 2009. Meru becomes the latest in a line of channel firms to go public in recent months.

Security specialist Fortinet floated on the NASDAQ in November, while vendor Force10 Networks filed its IPO prospectus earlier this month. The NASDAQ also welcomed back Bell Micro in January, two years after the broadliner was axed from the market for failing to meet filing requirements.