Data security startup Rubrik has filed to go public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), which, if successful, would make it the first cyber security vendor to complete an IPO in over two years.
The exact size and price of the initial public offering is yet to be disclosed, with Bloomberg reporting the firm could seek to raise $500 to $700 million in September 2023.
Rubrik filed plans for the IPO late on 1 April 2024, and will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ‘RBRK’ if successful.
In its SEC filing, Rubrik claimed it has experienced rapid growth in the face of cyber attacks, malicious insiders, and operational disruptions, with its annual recurring subscription (ARR) revenue growing from $532.9 million to $784.0 million as of 31 January 2024, a 47% increase year-on-year.
The data protection specialists announced its total revenue rose by around 5% from $599.8 million to $627.9 million during the same period, boasting over 61,000 customers, 1,742 of which bring in over $100,000 in subscription ARR.
The company’s net losses also rose to approximately $354 million for the fiscal year 2024, climbing from $277.7 million in 2023.
Rubrik’s IPO plans come in the wake of debuts for Reddit and Astera Labs on the NYSE in February, which broke a relative dry spell for IPOs in the last two years.
Before Reddit and Astera Labs went public, the last two venture-backed IPOs in the US were Instacart and Klaviyo in September 2023, which both failed to generate much enthusiasm in the market.
Spiraling data requirements drive high demand for data protection solutions
The growing value of data as a result of digital transformation, cloud adoption, the proliferation of AI tools, and the sheer volume of data being generated today has resulted in an accompanying boom in demand for data protection services.
Software company Rivery estimated that around 90% of the world’s data was created in the last two years, and this figure is expected to double in size every two years subsequently.
Kevin Cole, director of product and marketing at data protection firm Zerto, a subsidiary of HPE, said Rubrik’s IPO filing demonstrates the growing importance of the data protection solutions for organizations across industries.
“Rubrik's IPO filing is a significant development in the backup industry, coming closely after the news of Cohesity's acquisition of Veritas. This market movement underscores the continued importance of data protection for organizations across all industries and sizes.”
Cole argued the growing volume of data being created, collected, and stored by businesses around the world means demand for products to manage and secure this has similarly ballooned.
“We recognise that solution stacks continue to evolve to keep up with the explosion of data, which is increasingly distributed across edge devices and cloud environments,” he said.
“This distributed data landscape remains challenging for most companies to manage effectively, making it more important for organizations to rely on vendors who can provide end-to-end solutions across the entire data lifecycle.”
