Rubrik files to go public as tech companies see thawing of IPO market

Rubrik,
a
nine-year-old
data
security
software
vendor,

filed
to
go
public
on
Monday,
the
latest
venture-backed
company
to
move
toward
the
public
market
after
an
extended
lull
dating
back
to
late
2021.

The
Silicon
Valley
company

got
its
start
selling
hardware
that
companies
could
use
to
back
up
their
data
in
a
modernized
fashion
relative
to
traditional
players
in
the
space.
Rubrik
then
had
to
evolve
to
the
cloud,
where
it
now
gets
most
of
its
revenue
from
software
that “detects,
analyzes,
and
remediates
data
security
risks
and
unauthorized
user
activities,”
according
to
its
IPO
prospectus.

Competitors
includes


Dell,


IBM,
Veeam
and
Cohesity.

Rubrik
plans
to
trade
on
the
New
York
Stock
Exchange
under
the
ticker
symbol “RBRK.”
Revenue
in
the
fiscal
year
ended
January
rose
about
5%
to
$627.9
million.
The
company’s
net
loss
widened
to
$354.2
million
from
$277.7
million
a
year
earlier.
More
than
three-quarters
of
Rubrik’s
revenue
went
to
pay
for
sales
and
marketing
in
the
latest
fiscal
year.

Following
a
dry
spell
that
lasted
over
two
years,
the
market
for
initial
public
offerings
is
showing
signs
of
life
in
recent
weeks.
In
March,
social
media
company


Reddit
and
data
center
technology
vendor


Astera
Labs
went
public
on
consecutive
days.

Both
popped
out
of
the
gate,
boosting
optimism
that
more
companies
may
line
up
to
test
the
market.

Prior
to
that,
the
last
two
venture-backed
tech
IPOs
in
the
U.S.
were


Instacart
and


Klaviyo
in
September
2023.
Those
deals
received
tepid
responses
on
Wall
Street
and
failed
to
crack
open
the
window.
After
a
record
IPO
year
in
2021,
soaring
inflation
and
rising
interest
rates
pushed
investors
out
of
tech
and
other
risky
assets,
leading
to
a
drying
up
in
tech
investing
in
the
public
and
private
markets.

Rubrik
is
led
by
CEO
Bipul
Sinha,
who
invested
in
cloud
management
software
vendor


Nutanix
before
that
company’s
2016
public
offering.
Sinha
co-founded
Rubrik
in
2014
with
Arvind
Jain,
Soham
Mazumdar
and
Arvind
Nithrakashyap.
Jain
is
now
co-founder
and
CEO
of

Glean,
which
makes
software
that
helps
corporate
workers
find
internal
information
from
varied
data
sources.

Rubrik
said
in
its
prospectus
that
since
April
2021,
it
has
paid
Glean
$356,000
for
software.
Lightspeed
Venture
Partners
investor
Ravi
Mhatre,
a
Rubrik
director,
also
sits
on
Glean’s
board.
Rubrik
is
backed
by


Microsoft
and
said
it’s
committed
to
spending
$220
million
over
up
to
10
years
on
Microsoft’s
Azure
public
cloud.

Lightspeed,
Sinha’s
former
employer
and
the
firm
that
led
Rubrik’s
first
round
of
funding
in
2015,
is
the
company’s
biggest
shareholder,
with
a
24%
stake,
according
to
the
filing.
Greylock
Partners
is
second
with
a
12%
stake,
followed
by
Sinha,
who
owns
7.6%.
Jain
and
Nithrakashyap
own
7%
and
6.7%,
respectively.

Like
Reddit,
Rubrik
will
hold
a
directed
share
program
to
offer
IPO
shares
to
certain
partners,
friends
and
family
members.

Rubrik
had
3,100
employees
and
6,100
clients
as
of
January.
The
company
counted
on
three
channel
partners
—
Arrow
Enterprise
Computing
Solutions,
Exclusive
Networks
and
Promark
Technology
—
for
76%
of
its
revenue
in
the
latest
fiscal
year.

—
CNBC’s
Ari
Levy
contributed
to
this
report.