The Numbers
Koala closed $20 million at $3.40 per share ahead of its ASX debut. Total IPO prospectus: $68 million. Valuation: $305 million. New investors get 20.65% of the business. Half the fresh capital ($10.1 million) retires debt.
Existing investors sold $48.1 million in secondary. Co-founder Mitch Taylor offloaded $8.3 million worth of shares but remains involved in the business.
The Background
Founded 2015 in Byron Bay by Taylor and Dany Milham. Started at Fishburners in Sydney with one product: mattress-in-a-box. Scaled to $175 million revenue in six years. Expanded into sofas, sofa beds, broader furniture in 2018. Won nine Australian Good Design Awards.
Milham left in 2022 for Milkrun, the grocery delivery startup that burned $86 million before shutting down 19 months later. He returned as CEO in 2024. Base salary: $630k. Post-IPO stake: 20.7%.
The Cap Table
Perennial Partners: 22.7% (largest shareholder, sold down in the float). Alium Capital: 5%. New public investors: 20.65%.
Worth noting: Steve Smith (yes, the cricketer) put in $100k for 10% in the 2015 seed round. By 2019, that stake was worth north of $10 million. That is a 100-bagger.
What It Means
Koala positioned itself as the "Australian-born Ikea," targeting whole-of-home furniture dominance in ANZ. The DTC model worked: they hit scale without traditional retail overhead. The IPO validates the category but also marks a shift from pure growth to public company accountability.
For sales professionals watching the ANZ startup ecosystem: this is what a successful DTC scale looks like in furniture. Revenue grew, brand stuck, and they are listing. The Milham boomerang back from Milkrun shows even expensive failures do not kill careers when you have a prior exit on the resume.
IPO pricing them at $305 million. The market will decide if that holds.