Zulily sets IPO range at $16 to $18

Zulily, the online women’s and children’s accoutrements website, said Friday it expects to price shares in its initial public offering at $16 to $18, which would value the company at up $2.2 billion.

By contrast, coupon purveyor RetailMeNot (SALE) and e-commerce advisor ChannelAdvisor (ECOM), which both went public this year, boast market capitalizations of $1.7 billion and about $757.1 million.

At $18 a share, the Seattle retailer would raise roughly $115 million.

Zulily offers clothing and accessories at discount prices for short periods, known as flash sales, a model used by sites such as Gilt Groupe. By carving out a niche, it has avoided competing directly with e-commerce giant and crosstown rival Amazon.com (AMZN).

Zulily has been growing rapidly. Its revenue in the first nine months of the year more than doubled, to $438.7 million, and the company reported a narrow $155,000 profit, according to a filing Friday. By contrast, Twitter, which has the year’s most hotly anticipated IPO, had $422.2 million in sales and lost $133.9 million over the same period.

A Zulily spokeswoman declined to comment.

Mark Vadon, a co-founder of both Zulily and jewelry website Blue Nile, is the single largest shareholder with a 30.3% stake, which could be worth as much as $640 million at the $18 price. Chief Executive Darrell Cavens holds a 20.9% stake that could be worth up to $449 million, based on the filing.

Venture capital firm Maveron, co-founded by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, holds the second-largest stake in Zulily, at 23.5%. The Seattle firm disclosed it plans to sell 2.63 million shares, or about 9.6% of its stake, potentially bringing it $47.3 million.

Investors August Capital and Andreessen Horowitz plan to sell about 800,000 shares each, or roughly 10% of their stakes.