Rubrik prices IPO at $32 per share, above the expected range

Rubrik, a data-management software company backed by Microsoft, priced its IPO at $32 a share. That's above its expected range.

The 10-year-old company sold 23.5 million shares ahead of its New York Stock Exchange debut on Thursday and will trade under the ticker symbol "RBRK." Rubrik raised $752 million through the initial public offering, valuing the company at $5.6 billion.

Last week the company said in a filing that it was expecting to price the offering at $28 to $31 per share.

Rubrik is hitting the public market during a historically slow period for venture-backed tech IPOs, particularly when it comes to companies that sell to businesses. The IPO market has been largely shuttered since late 2021, as concerns about a worsening economy and rising interest rates pushed investors out of risky assets.

Startups have stayed private for longer, recalibrating their finances and waiting for better conditions. Even with interest rates stabilizing and the broader tech market bouncing back over the past recent months, private tech companies have been slow to exit.

Instacart and software vendor Klaviyo went public in September, the first venture-backed tech deals in the U.S. since 2021. Reddit went public last month, a day after the Nasdaq debut of Astera Labs, which sells data center connectivity chips.

Early on, Rubrik sold perpetual licenses and set up maintenance contracts for hardware that could take care of data storage functions such as backup and compression. In recent years, the company has shifted toward subscriptions for cloud-based cybersecurity software. Businesses can use the software to secure data in cloud applications and in public clouds and prevent data loss in the event of ransomware attacks.

Rubrik now gets 91% of its revenue from subscriptions, up from 59% two years ago. Revenue increased less than 5% in the fiscal year that ended on Jan. 31, but annual recurring revenue from subscriptions jumped 47%.

Almost 100 customers were contributing over $1 million in subscription ARR at the end of the fiscal year, the company said. Clients include Barclays, Carhartt and Home Depot.

"Our key top-line metric is subscription ARR," Rubrik finance chief Kiran Choudary said in a videotaped presentation for the company's IPO roadshow.

However, Rubrik's losses are widening. The company reported a $354 million net loss in the latest fiscal year, compared with around $278 million during the prior year.

Microsoft invested in Rubrik in 2021 at a reported valuation of $4 billion. Venture firm Lightspeed, where CEO Bipul Sinha used to be a partner, will have over 25% of voting power following the IPO. Sinha will have 8% control.