The Illawarra-based company, which now owns 11 skydiving sites in four states, is hoping to raise up to $20 million through an initial public offer of 80 million shares at 25¢ each on the Australian stock exchange.

According to the offer prospectus - lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission last Thursday - there are more than 193 million existing shares owned by directors, including company founder Anthony Boucaut.

When the new shares are listed, expected to be on March 30, Mr Boucaut will own between 66 and 77 per cent of the company - or almost 180 million shares - depending on the number of shares sold through the public offer.

The company will need to sell at least 40 million shares, to raise $10 million, for the offer to go ahead, and would-be investors will need to buy a minimum of 8000 shares, at $2000, each.

The money raised will help fund the acquisition of five extra skydiving sites at Cairns, Brisbane, Byron Bay, Mission Beach and the Central Coast - which are currently owned by a company called Australia Skydive.

Mr Boucaut said the public listing was "a home-grown success story" for Wollongong, and believed his business was one of the first Australian adventure tourism outfits to float on the sharemarket.

"It's a huge decision to take a company public, but given the rate we want to expand, traditional means were not realistic for us to continue on our growth path, so the [initial public offer] was by far the most attractive means to achieve the aggressive growth plans we have for the next five years," he said.

"We kicked off in 1999 and the business is now expanding nationally, and it will have its national head office based in Wollongong.

"We're extremely excited about how the future looks, and this offers excellent job security and sustainability for our 70-plus staff based in Wollongong."

He said the company would expand to employ more than 100 Wollongong-based staff in the months following the public listing. The offer prospectus raises several risks associated with buying its shares, which involve its acquisitions, competition and development.

"There are a number of risks facing the company in the execution of its business strategy," the prospectus said.

"While the directors are of the view that there are plans in place to ensure these risks are mitigated, these factors may still impact upon investor returns."

After starting as a small Wollongong-based company conducting 1478 skydives in 1999, the business has grown considerably, mostly since 2010.

Over three years, operators began buying or establishing drop zones in the Hunter Valley, St Kilda, the Central Coast, Great Ocean Road, Yarra Valley and York, near Perth.

In 2013, the Skydive the Beach Group company was formed and established two further skydiving sites in Western Australia.

Last year, it bought a site in Airlie Beach and started one in Newcastle.

The group now owns 15 separate companies and took in $18 million revenue from the sale of skydives in 2014. It estimates it will earn more than $26 million from the sale of sky jumps in 2015.