RightNow files to join IPO parade

Customer service ASP (application service provider) RightNow Technologies Inc. filed Monday to join the parade of tech companies planning IPOs (initial public offerings) this year.

Bozeman, Montana-based RightNow’s technology extends the hosted and managed applications model popular in the CRM (customer relationship management) market to the customer service industry. Its customers include Electronic Arts Inc., the World Wildlife Fund, the The Reader’s Digest Association Inc., and the Procter & Gamble Co.

Google Inc. and hosted CRM leader Salesforce.com Inc. are among the companies planning to go public and test whether Wall Street is ready to invest in new tech companies again after watching so many collapse in the dot-com meltdown.

Unlike Google and Salesforce.com, RightNow hasn’t had a profitable year. It reported a loss of $4.1 million on revenue of $35.9 million for 2003. In the first quarter of 2004, it showed income of $80,000 on revenue of $12.9 million.

This is RightNow’s second attempt at going public. The eight-year-old company filed in April 2000 for an IPO. It withdrew that filing in November 2000, citing adverse market conditions.

Three of the underwriters RightNow planned to use in 2000 — Thomas Weisel Partners LLC; Adams, Harkness & Hill Inc. and D.A. Davidson & Co. — are returning for the new offering, joined by Morgan Stanley. RightNow plans to raise up to $60 million in the offering, and to trade its stock on the Nasdaq exchange.