Updated on Monday Aug. 9 with extra particulars.
Not that way back, Rover was on a really quick leash.
In March 2020, because the realities of the pandemic turned clear, the shutdown in international journey and in-person work considerably diminished demand for the Seattle-based firm’s market, which connects pet house owners with individuals who can host, walk, or care for his or her pets after they’re on the workplace or on a visit.
Faced with unprecedented uncertainty, Rover made what CEO Aaron Easterly referred to as a “gut-wrenching” choice, shedding about 41% of its workforce, or almost 200 individuals, as a part of a broader set of cutbacks.
Like many different corporations, Rover additionally utilized for a Small Business Administration (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) mortgage, and it obtained one for $8.1 million in April 2020.
The large benefit of those loans, other than the low rate of interest, is that they’re forgivable, if a business spends the money according to SBA tips. Nationally, about 80% of PPP loans have been fully or partially forgiven.
Rover selected a unique path. The firm disclosed in a regulatory filing Thursday afternoon that it just lately paid off its PPP mortgage, plus curiosity and costs, returning a complete of $8.2 million.
The transfer displays how a lot has modified for the corporate within the final 18 months. For one factor, rising pet adoption rates and increased spending on pets have boosted Rover’s business.
But extra to the purpose, Rover this week turned the Seattle area’s latest public firm by way of a merger with a publicly traded particular function acquisition firm, or SPAC, elevating $240 million within the course of.
“As a business closely tied to the travel industry, we were able to utilize these resources to help sustain the business during the height of the pandemic,” mentioned Rover spokesman Dave Rosenbaum through electronic mail in response to GeekWire’s inquiry. “Now that our business has normalized, we have repaid the loan.”
Rover is again as much as 320 staff worldwide, after declining to 275 following its layoffs final yr.
PPP loans to public corporations turned a topic of controversy final yr.
The SBA’s guidelines discouraged participation by corporations with “access other sources of liquidity sufficient to support their ongoing operations,” and mentioned it was “unlikely that a public company with substantial market value and access to capital markets” would be capable of pledge in truth that it wanted the money to outlive.
However, there’s a grey space with regards to corporations which have gone public, been acquired, or raised large funding rounds after receiving PPP loans.
Seattle-based Porch Group obtained an $8.1 million PPP mortgage in April 2020. Porch went public in December by way of a SPAC merger of its personal, elevating $322 million within the course of.
The identical month it went public, Porch submitted an utility for forgiveness of the mortgage, based on its latest quarterly filing with the SEC.
However, the Porch submitting, dated May 19, cautioned that there was “no assurance” that it might give you the option acquire forgiveness of the PPP mortgage. Porch CEO Matt Ehrlichman declined to remark this week as a result of quiet interval upfront of the corporate’s Aug. 16 earnings report.
One longtime publicly traded firm, Seattle-based RealNetworks, said it in its quarterly filing this week that it obtained full forgiveness of its $2.9 million PPP mortgage in June. The firm was ready to make use of the PPP funds to convey again a few of its furloughed staff on the time.
“We follow the rules very rigorously,” RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser instructed GeekWire final yr. “We’re very thoughtful about it, and we feel like this is a program that makes sense for us.”
Like Rover, some corporations whose circumstances have modified have chosen to pay again their PPP loans.
Bardy Diagnostics, the Seattle-based medical system maker that obtained a $2.6 million PPP mortgage, says it is going to be paying the mortgage off in full, plus curiosity, along side the anticipated closing Friday of its $375 million acquisition by Hillrom, which follows a legal dispute between the companies over the acquisition.
Seattle-based advertising know-how startup Amperity, which simply raised a further $100 million funding that valued the corporate at greater than $1 billion, paid off its $3.8 million PPP mortgage in full final yr.
Update, Monday Aug. 9: Seattle-based cybersecurity agency ExtraHop mentioned it has additionally paid again its PPP mortgage in full. ExtraHop obtained $10 million by way of this system, based on public data. ExtraHop was acquired by Bain Capital Private Equity and Crosspoint Capital Partners in a deal valuing the corporate at $900 million. Announced on June 8, the deal closed July 22.
Editor’s Note: GeekWire utilized for and obtained two PPP loans of $262,820 every. So far, a type of loans has been totally forgiven.
