Motricity, which moved its headquarters from Durham, N.C., to Bellevue in 2008, has filed to raise up to $250 million through an initial public offering. The 9-year-old company -- which has raised more than $400 million from Technology Crossover Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Intel Capital, Carl Icahn and others -- delivers mobile data services to the top five wireless carriers in the U.S.

Motricity, which expects to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker MOTR, said it plans to use the proceeds from the sale for general corporate purposes and possible acquisitions. The business has been growing extremely fast in recent years. Revenues have grown from $1.9 million in 2004 to $103.2 million in 2008. At the end of 2008, the company employed 338 people.

However, Motricity has never made a profit. For the full year 2008, the company posted a net loss of $78 million. During the first nine months of last year, the company lost $10.8 million. Its accumulated deficit stood at $267 million at the end of 2008.

"If we cannot become profitable, our financial condition will deteriorate, and we may be unable to achieve our business objectives," the company wrote in its filing.

If the IPO proceeds, it could help end a long drought in Seattle when it comes to new offerings. Biotech company Omeros priced shares on the Nasdaq last fall, but before that it had been two years since a high-tech company had completed an IPO.

On Thursday, Bellevue insurer Symetra priced shares in an IPO and started trading earlier today.

Motricity provides hosted services to carriers, including mobile web portal, storefront, messaging, and billing support and settlement. "Our mCore service delivery platform provides the tools for mobile subscribers to easily locate and access personally relevant and location-based content and services, engage in social networking and download content and applications," the company writes in the SEC filing.

Motricity has connections to the Seattle area through its acquisition of the InfoSpace's Mobile business, paying $135 million for the unit in 2007. Since 2003, Motricity had completed eight acquisitions in the mobile data services category.

The company said that it received 83 percent of its revenue from the top five wireless carriers in the U.S., with AT&T and Verizon the company's two largest customers. That concentration is one potential risk factor, as is the potential evolution of the way people are now accessing content on mobile devices.

It derived 31 percent of its revenue from mobile subscribers who accesses content through the carrier's own mobile portals.

However, the company notes in the filing that "with the growth of the iPhone and smartphone business models, our customers’ services may be bypassed or become inaccessible." It continues:

"These business models, which exclude carrier participation beyond transport, along with the introduction of more mobile phones with open operating systems that allow mobile subscribers to browse the Internet and, in some cases, download applications from sources other than a carrier’s branded services, create a risk that some carriers will choose to allow this non-branded Internet access without offering a competitive value-added carrier-branded experience as part of their solution set. These so-called “open operating systems” include Symbian, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile and webOS. We believe wireless carriers need to offer branded services that can compete head-to-head with the new business models and open technologies in order to retain mobile subscribers and increase ARPU. Although our solutions are designed to help wireless carriers deliver a high value, competitive mobile data experience, if mobile subscribers do not find these carrier-branded services compelling, there is a risk that mobile subscribers will use open operating systems to bypass carrier-branded services and access the mobile Internet."

The company is led by founder Ryan Wuerch, who previously served as president of Learning 2000. The 42-year-old also serves as a board member of the CTIA Wireless Foundation, the Miss America Organization and an ambassador for the Internet Innovation Alliance. Wuerch owns about five percent of the company.

The largest shareholder is Advanced Equities, which owns 26 percent. Investor Carl Icahn is the second largest shareholder with a 21 percent stake.