Palo Alto, California-based TripActions has confidentially filed to go public next year.

The news was first reported by Business Insider. The company is aiming for a $12 billion valuation in Q2 of next year, according to the report. The report also said Goldman Sachs has been hired to handle the listing.

The business travel startup last raised $275 million in a Series F round led by Greenoaks Capital last October at a $7.25 billion valuation. In May, Bloomberg reported the company was in negotiations to raise funding at a $9 billion valuation.

The news comes as the IPO market is going through its slowest period in years. Many tech startups have shied away from going public as many of its already-listed brethren have seen their shares take significant haircuts since the beginning of the year.

Few big tech startups have looked to unplug the IPO pipeline. One exception is Instacart, which in May made news when the grocery delivery service said it had filed paperwork for a public listing.

Long road

Founded in 2015, TripActions has raised $1.5 billion. While the company now boasts a healthy valuation, times have not always been good for the startup.

TripActions looked like it would become one of the first casualties of COVID-19 when the pandemic took hold in March 2020. With all travel stopped, the company saw its revenue drop to $0. CEO and co-founder Ariel Cohen openly talked about the problems, including laying off 300 people.

However, in June 2020, the company was able to secure $125 million in debt and doubled down on its newly launched expense reporting platform—a platform that became popular as many were working from home and had new expenses.

By early 2021, the company was able to raise a $155 million Series E.

Big-named investors in TripActions include Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Akkadian Ventures, Zeev Ventures and Elad Gil.

Illustration: Dom Guzman