Fitbit files for IPO

Fitbit, the maker of wearable fitness tracking devices, filed with USA regulators on Thursday for an initial public offering of its shares.

The company makes both wrist bands and clippable devices that monitor a user's fitness activity by tracking the calories burned or distance covered, among other things.

Fitbit faces stiff competition from several fitness-device makers such as Garmin, Jawbone, Misfit, but its biggest challenger could be Apple's recently launched Apple Watch, which has a host of health-related features and apps.

Fitbit, founded in 2007, said it sold over 20.8 million devices as of 31 March, of which more than half were sold in 2014 alone.

The company's revenue almost tripled to US$745.4 million in 2014 and it posted a profit of US$131.8 million.

Fitbit said it had a 68 percent share of the USA fitness tracking device market last year on dollar terms, citing research firm NPD Group.

However it is keenly aware of the threat it now faces from Apple, which recently launched the Apple Watch. In the IPO, Fitbit states that "many large, broad-based consumer electronics companies either compete in our market or adjacent markets or have announced plans to do so."

The filing names Apple, Google, LG, Microsoft and Samsung in this space, pointing out the recent launch of the Apple Watch with its "broad-based functionalities, including some health and fitness tracking capabilities."

Venture capital firm Foundry Group is the largest stakeholder in Fitbit with a 28.9 percent stake.

The San Francisco-based company said Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank Securities and BofA Merrill Lynch were among the underwriters for the IPO.

Fitbit said it could raise up to US$100 million from the IPO, but did not reveal how many shares it planned to sell or their expected price.

The company said it intended list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "FIT."

The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.

(Reporting By Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Simon Jennings)