Rubrik becomes latest tech darling to file for an IPO after successful offerings from Astera Labs and Reddit
Two weeks after the successful IPOs of Astera Labs and Reddit, another highly anticipated name is entering the public market: the cloud data and cybersecurity company Rubrik, which just filed its S-1 with the SEC to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker RBRK.
Rubrik was founded in 2013 (first as ScaleData Inc., changing its name the following year) with a focus on protecting data stored in the cloud. By 2021, the company had a $4 billion valuation. That same year it entered into a partnership with Microsoft, which led a funding round to build cybersecurity protection for Microsoft’s cloud service Azure. Among Rubrik’s over 6,000 customers is Nvidia, a key producer of chips for AI computing.
“We are defining the future of cybersecurity,” CEO Bipul Sinha wrote in a letter that accompanied the filing. “In today’s world, no government or business is immune to cyberattacks. What we do matters.”
While the company highlighted $784 million in revenue from subscriptions for last year, the S-1 also showed net losses of $354.2 million by January 2024. The filing also showed an accumulated deficit of $1.7 billion.
Rubrik had been mentioned as one of the companies that could help end a two-year drought for IPOs, which also could affect the private markets that trade companies not yet registered with the SEC.
The company has been gearing up for a possible IPO since at least June, when it hired Goldman Sachs, Barclays, and Citigroup to prepare its filing. At the time, Reuters reported that the company expected to raise $750 million. Those three banks are still leading the offering, joined by Wells Fargo, Deutsche Bank, and 10 other institutions.
This S-1 didn’t include an initial price for shares but did specify the offering will separate out a portion of the stock for a direct share program. Reddit had such a program and set aside 1.7 million shares, about 8%, of the total offering for “super redditors,” a group that includes content moderators and high-volume users.
According to Bloomberg, the Reddit and Astera Labs IPOs were the main contributors to the total $9.6 billion raised by IPOs during the first quarter of 2024.
Early trading for both Astera Labs and Reddit showed promise, with Astera listing at $36 before soaring to $89 and Reddit listing at $34 before reaching $65 last week. Both have declined a bit since, with Astera trading north of $71 and Reddit near $48 as of midday Tuesday.
