Bipul Sinha, co-founder and CEO of data security software company Rubrik. Sinha previously backed cloud management company Nutanix.

Greylock Partners

Rubrik, a data management software company backed by Microsoftpriced its IPO at $32 per share. This is above the expected range.

The 10-year-old company sold 23.5 million shares ahead of its New York Stock Exchange debut Thursday and will trade under the symbol “RBRK.” Rubrik raised $752 million through the initial public offering, valuing the company at $5.6 billion.

Last week the company said in a filing that it expected to offer a price of $28 to $31 per share.

Rubrik is going public during a historically slow period for venture-backed technology IPOs, especially when it comes to companies selling to businesses. The IPO market has been largely shut down since late 2021 as concerns about a deteriorating economy and rising interest rates have pushed investors away from risk assets.

Startups are staying private longer, restructuring their finances and waiting for better conditions. Even as interest rates have stabilized and the broader tech market has recovered in recent months, private tech companies have slowly exited.

Instacart and software provider Klaviyo went public in September, the first US venture capital-backed tech deals since 2021. Reddit went public last month, a day after its Nasdaq debut Astera Laboratorieswhich sells data center connectivity chips.

In the beginning, Rubrik sells perpetual licenses and creates maintenance contracts for hardware that can take care of data storage functions such as archiving and compression. In recent years, the company has turned to cloud-based cybersecurity software subscriptions. Businesses can use the software to protect data in cloud applications and in public clouds and prevent data loss in the event of ransomware attacks.

Rubrik now gets 91% of its revenue from subscriptions, up from 59% two years ago. Revenue rose less than 5 percent in the fiscal year that ended Jan. 31, but annual recurring subscription revenue jumped 47 percent.

Almost 100 customers contributed more than $1 million in subscription ARR at the end of the fiscal year, the company said. Clients include Barclays, Carhartt and Home Depot.

“Our key top-line metric is subscription ARR,” Rubrik CFO Kiran Choudhary said in a video presentation of the company’s IPO.

However, Rubrik’s losses are mounting. The company reported a net loss of $354 million in the most recent fiscal year, compared with about $278 million the year before.

Microsoft invested in Rubrik in 2021 at a reported valuation of $4 billion. Venture capital firm Lightspeed, where CEO Bipul Sinha was a partner, will hold more than 25% of the votes after the IPO. Sinha will have 8% control.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/24/rubrik-prices-ipo-at-32-per-share-above-expected-range.html