The mobile e-commerce company Wish is one of San Francisco’s hottest startups
- Peter Szulczewski, a University of Waterloo math alumnus, co-founded Wish with another Waterloo math alumnus, Danny Zhang, in 2010.
- As of Sept. 30, ContextLogic had 828 full-time employees across eight companies, 417 of which are in research and development or related activities.
- The mobile commerce market was $2.1 trillion in 2019 and is projected to reach $4.5 trillion by 2024, according to the Wish prospectus.
- Wish has incurred operating losses since it launched. In 2017, net losses totaled $207 million; in 2018, net losses were $208 million; and in 2019, losses totaled $129 million.
- Most of the company’s merchants are China-based.
ContextLogic Inc., the parent company to mobile e-commerce platform Wish, has filed for an initial public offering amid a massive shift to online shopping during COVID-19.
With 100 million monthly active users in more than 100 countries, Wish WISH, says it is the most downloaded shopping app, and aims to bring its users a wide selection of affordable products. Wish has more than 500,000 merchants selling 150 million items to customers. About 1.8 million items are sold daily.
E-commerce has traditionally focused on affluent shoppers. However, growth will come from consumers on the lower end of the economic spectrum, Wish said, particularly among the shoppers from emerging economies across Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe, where they approximate the average household income at $18,000 annually.
ContextLogic was incorporated in Delaware in 2010 and is based in San Francisco. It will trade on the Nasdaq with the symbol “WISH.”
Lead underwriters include Goldman Sachs & Co., JPMorgan and BofA Securities. The company will offer Class A and Class B common stock. The company set a placeholder of what it expects to raise in the IPO at $1 billion.
ContextLogic’s chief executive and chairperson is also its founder, 39-year-old Peter Szulczewski. Prior to launching the company, he held a number positions at Google. Others among the executive leadership have also previously held positions at technology companies, including Chief Financial Officer Rajat Bahri, who was previously at Jasper Technologies, and General Counsel Devang Shah, who worked at Zynga Inc.
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Peter Szulczewski has recently purchased this home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, Calif.
- PRICE: $15.3 million
- SIZE: 11,695 square feet, 7 beds, 9 baths
Peter's social handles
Spec-built by a local developer and completed earlier this year, the ultra-contemporary manse sits on a half-acre lot atop a steep ridge, looming directly above Rupert Murdoch’s $30 million vineyard estate. Included in the nearly 12,000 square feet of house is an attached “auto gallery” with space for five luxury vehicles. Though there isn’t much of a front yard, the walled, gated and camera-watched estate additionally features a wee motorcourt for off-street parking.
