UPDATE: Facebook's tepid opening on Nasdaq May 18, with its stock closing at $38.23, just a few cents higher than its $38 pricing and with banks moving in late in the day to buy the stock to ensure it didn't dip below $38 on its opening day, did nothing to catapult Kayak's IPO prospects.
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With Facebook slated to price its IPO tonight and debut on Nasdaq on Friday with what could turn out to be a $100 billion valuation, can a much more diminutive, yet still substantive tech play in the form of Kayak follow on Facebook's heels?
Or, to put it differently, can Kayak, racecar-like, maneuver and engage in some drafting as the Facebook engine laps the field?
Where there's smoke there's usually fire and CNBC provided some kindling late yesterday with a report that Kayak's IPO roadshow could get under way after the Facebook dust has settled, perhaps following Memorial Day, which is May 28.
The report says Kayak could raise $150 million at a valuation of more than $1 billion.
With some $195 million in venture capital and private equity funding from investors including Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, General Catalyst Partners and Oak Investment Partners, among others, hitting the $1 billion valuation has long been a magic number for Kayak.
However, CNBC's estimate of $150 million to be raised may be open to question since the travel metasearch company and its bankers haven't set the IPO stock price and number of shares to be offered yet.
In addition, the timing of the kickoff of Kayak's roadshow could still be up for debate. It's not out of the question that it could begin as early as next week, with one school of thought holding that it isn't necessary to let Facebook's IPO debut percolate for awhile before getting out there and letting potential investors in Kayak's IPO taste what's brewing.
What's clear is that any tech IPO that's been waiting in the wings -- and Kayak's IPO has been on hold since November 2010 -- didn't want to take its show on the road while Facebook was making the rounds and hogging all the attention in recent days.
With Kayak's first quarter revenue and EBITDA climbing 39% and 61%, respectively, it hopes to tell a growth story to investors, who undoubtedly will still be asking Kayak questions about its ongoing reliance on airfare shopping and pricing technology from Google's ITA Software.
Kayak declined to comment on its IPO.