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.