LegalZoom Files For $120M IPO, Saw $156M In Revenue Last Year

Online legal services company LegalZoom filed an S-1 form this morning declaring its intention to raise up to $120 million in an IPO.

LegalZoom offers documents and subscription services to make it easier for individuals and businesses to accomplish basic legal tasks. As evidence of the company’s traction and impact, the S-1 says LegalZoom has served about 2 million customers in the past 10 years. It also says that in 2011, those customers placed 490,000 orders on the site, and during that period, more than 20 percent of limited liability companies formed in California did so through LegalZoom.

The company’s revenue has been growing steadily, if not dramatically, in the past couple of years — it was $156 million in 2011, up from $121 million in 2010 and $103 million in 2009. LegalZoom also became profitable for the first time last year, with $12.1 million in net income.

LegalZoom says its future plans include adding more services, expanding its subscription legal plans, and growing internationally. Risk factors listed in the S-1 include:

The company is switching from a transaction-based model to a mix of transactions and subscriptions, so it’s not clear how many customers will become subscribers.
LegalZoom’s reputation could be harmed if it doesn’t protect its customers’ privacy.
There’s increasing competition from online and offline legal services.
The company is involved in several class action lawsuits.

LegalZoom has raised more than $100 million in funding, including a $66 million round last year. The largest shareholders in the company are Polaris Venture Partners (with 35.1 percent of the company), Institutional Venture Partners (14.7 percent), Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (6.4 percent), and co-founder and chairman Brian Liu (8.7 percent).

The company is headquartered in Los Angeles suburb Glendale, so this is also nice validation for the LA tech community.