By Tim McLaughlin
BOSTON (Reuters) - Fidelity Investments, one of the largest investors in pre-IPO companies, boosted the value of Twilio Inc by 31 percent in November, as speculation builds that the provider of mobile messaging platforms may go public in 2016.
Fidelity's $100 billion-plus Contrafund valued its Series E stake in Twilio at $43.5 million in November, compared with $33.2 million a month earlier, according to disclosures made public on Wednesday.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that San Francisco-based Twilio has filed confidentially for an initial public offering that could happen as soon as the first quarter of 2016. This past summer Twilio raised $130 million in a Series E funding round led by Boston-based Fidelity and T. Rowe Price Group Inc.
Fidelity funds are a good barometer of what is happening in the pre-IPO landscape because they disclose their holdings, and shifting valuations, on a monthly basis. Most mutual funds disclose their holdings quarterly.
Content marketing firm Taboola.com Ltd also got a valuation boost from Fidelity, according to disclosures on Wednesday. Fidelity's OTC Portfolio valued its Taboola stake at $13.6 million at the end of November, a 27 percent boost from a month earlier.
Portfolio managers at Fidelity do not set the pre-IPO values. That is done by a separate committee at Fidelity.
Nutanix Inc, which filed for an IPO earlier this month, saw its valuation fall 11 percent in Fidelity funds, according to Wednesday disclosures for end-of-November holdings.
And Paris-based GenSight Biologics, which is developing therapies to fight eye disease, had its valuation cut by 44 percent at Fidelity in November. The biopharma pulled its plan for an IPO last month.