Rubrik’s Bold Entry into the NYSE: A New Era for Cybersecurity
Rubrik made a splash on the New York Stock Exchange this Thursday, opening at $38 a share. This comes after pricing its shares at $32 the night before, slightly above its initial target range of $29 to $31. This move raised $752 million and boosted Rubrik’s valuation to $6.6 billion, a significant increase from its $3.5 billion valuation in 2019.
By the end of Thursday, Rubrik’s stock settled at $37 a share.
Rubrik provides cloud-based security software to enterprise clients, boasting 1,700 customers with contracts exceeding $100,000 and over 100 customers paying more than $1 million annually. Since its founding in 2014, the Silicon Valley startup has secured over $550 million in venture capital, as per Crunchbase data.
Key investors, Lightspeed and Greylock, have high hopes for Rubrik’s market performance. Lightspeed, which backed Rubrik in five funding rounds including its Series A in 2015, holds a 23.9% stake. This firm’s confidence is partly due to Rubrik’s CEO and co-founder, Bipul Sinha, who was a partner at Lightspeed from 2010 to 2014 and owns 7.6% of Rubrik’s shares.
Greylock, holding 12.2% of Rubrik’s shares, led the $41 million Series B round in 2016 and participated in subsequent funding rounds. Greylock partner Asheem Chandna has been on Rubrik’s board since 2015.
Co-founders Arvind Jain and Arvind Nithrakashyap also have significant stakes, with Jain, now CEO of AI startup Glean, holding 7%, and Nithrakashyap, Rubrik’s current CTO, holding 6.7%.
Other notable investors include Khosla Ventures, IVP, Bain Capital Ventures, and NBA star Kevin Durant’s Thirty Five Ventures, though their stakes are below 5%.
Rubrik’s IPO is drawing more attention than other recent listings due to its resemblance to 2021 IPOs rather than those of 2024. Unlike Ibotta, Astera Labs, and Reddit, which have recently turned profitable, Rubrik remains unprofitable with growing losses. Its revenue increased by just under 5% from fiscal 2023 to 2024, from $599.8 million to $627.9 million, while net losses grew from 46% to 56%.
However, there is a silver lining: Rubrik’s subscription revenue, which made up 91% of its total revenue in the latest quarter, up from 73% the previous year. This recurring revenue could be a strong indicator of future growth, giving investors confidence despite current financial challenges.
Rubrik is the fourth venture-backed company to go public recently, following Ibotta, Reddit, and Astera Labs. All three had positive first days and have stabilized, showing that the IPO market might be warming up again. However, predictions that interest rate cuts might not happen as early in 2024 as expected could slow this momentum.
Rubrik’s successful IPO debut could inspire other companies to enter the market, potentially leading to a resurgence in public offerings.
