Continuing a series of technology IPOs, Rubrik will seek up to $713 million when it goes public on the NYSE later this month under the ticker symbol RBRK, according to a new SEC filing.
Along with Astera Labs and Reddit, Rubrik is one of the big tech companies that many investors had hoped would go public this year, ending a two-year drought of public offerings. Additionally, Rubrik is a traditional SaaS company and will serve as a better comparison for other tech companies considering whether to go public in 2024, explained Phil Haslett, co-founder and chief strategy officer of EquityZen, a secondary marketplace for businesses in the private market.
Because Rubrik has positive financials — $784 million in revenue and 40% growth in positive cash flow — a bad IPO could have a chilling effect, according to Haslett.
“If this IPO were to happen like it did four or five years ago, people would be talking about how Rubrik would be a really big company from a revenue standpoint and a track record,” added Haslett, who asked whether standards for going public had changed significantly . “Because if so, then we have to kind of look at who really qualifies to be a public company or who will be able to be a public company.”
According to Rubrik's amended S-1, the company will make 23 million shares available – out of a total of 175,433,785 – at a price of $28 to $31. At a mid-price of $29.50, the offering would fetch $632.6 million, but at the high end it would fetch $713 million – and an implied valuation of more than $5.4 billion.
Such a sum would be at least $1.4 billion more than Rubick's value after a funding round led by Microsoft in 2021. Rubrik was founded in 2011 with a focus on cloud-based data protection and later partnered with Microsoft to to develop cybersecurity protection for its cloud service Azure.
The top underwriter for Rubrik's IPO is Goldman Sachs, followed by Barclays, Citigroup and Wells Fargo, as well as 11 other institutions. The listing is scheduled for April 25, just a week after Ibotta, another tech company whose IPO has captured investor attention, will make its Nasdaq debut.
Given the performance of Rubrik's shares in the secondary market, Haslett added, the price range appears to be comparable to what was seen with EquityZen in the lead-up to its IPO. Although he expects retail investors to pay less attention to the offering than to a household name like Reddit, Haslett still believes interest on the institutional side could drive shares higher after trading begins.
“If everyone hits the buy button, things will rise faster, like on Reddit, but the opposite can also be true,” he added. “Retail awareness helps in the first six months. I think over time it becomes less important.”
Subscribe to the CFO Daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the trends, topics and leaders shaping corporate finance. Sign up for free.
Comments are closed.