Full stream ahead: Roku is going public

Video-streaming player pioneer Roku is going public, hoping to raise money to expand into more households and fend off competitive threats from bigger technology companies.

Roku listed a $100 million fundraising target in a regulatory filing on Friday, but that figure is likely to change after Roku gauges investors’ demand for the initial public offering of its stock.

The documents provided the f irst peek at Roku finances and other previously confidential information.

Roku is still unprofitable. Last year, it lost nearly $43 million on $399 million in revenue. The revenue was up 23 percent from the $162.3 million during the same period last year. Since its 2002 inception, Roku has amassed $244 million in losses.

Market research firm Park Associates says Roku is the US market leader of streaming players, with a 37 percent share, which puts it ahead of Amazon, Google and Apple.

Connected to televisions, Roku devices provide access to services offered by Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and Starz, among others.

Roku had 15.1 million active accounts as of June 30, according to the filing. The users stream an average of three hours per day.

In the filing, Roku said its users streamed 6.7 billion hours on its platform during the f irst six months of the year, up 62 percent from the year before.

It spent $48 million on research and development during the f irst half of the year, $10 million more than during the first six months of the previous year.

The filing did not mention the number of shares that will be offered and their price range.

The company plans to list the stock on Nasdaq.

Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Global Markets are the lead bookrunners.