iboss Could Join KnowBe4, Darktrace, Datto, Others in Tech IPO Onslaught
Some tech IPOs are more successful than others.
![IPO IPO](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/bltd26b4f2f794dcea0/65244f948db4a09b70aa28aa/IPO-2018.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
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Last month, Darktrace‘s IPO appeared to be a rousing success. The U.K.-based security startup’s shares were up nearly 40% as the London Stock Exchange approached its closing hour on opening day.
Darktrace is an artificial intelligence (AI) company that specializes in cyber defense. Its portfolio is broad, and includes cloud security, threat visualization, and network detection and response (NDR). The highlight could be its Darktrace Immune System, which the company says identifies “what is truly dangerous or malicious” in real time.
Darktrace sells through various partner types, including VARs, MSSPs, small consulting organizations and other technology partners.
KnowBe4‘s IPO was a hit with investors last month. Stu Sjouwerman, KnowBe4’s founder and CEO, said partners will benefit from the company going public.
KnowBe4 shares opened nearly 25% above their $16 offer price on the Nasdaq. Backed by global investment firm KKR, the cybersecurity training company gained a valuation of $3.56 billion when its shares were up 33%.
Earlier reports said KnowBe4 was preparing its IPO last fall.
“International expansion, that was definitely the No. 1 reason why we said, ‘Yes, we’re pulling the trigger, we’re doing this,” Sjouwerman said. “The other thing is M&A opportunities. We don’t have anything immediately like, yes, we’re going to buy company so and so. But we’re always looking at good M&A candidates. But by far, international expansion is No. 1.”
Microsoft SaaS partner AvePoint is planning an IPO by selling to Apex Technology Acquisition Corp. Apex, a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), will acquire AvePoint in a deal that values the company at nearly $2 billion.
“It’s much faster to go the SPAC route,” AvePoint co-founder and CEO Tianyi Jiang told Channel Futures. “This way, my team and I can go back and focus on running our business. With the traditional IPO, it would take much longer and create much more of a distraction.”
In March, DigitalOcean, the cloud for developers, startups and SMBs, made its public market debut. The company set an IPO price of $47, the high end of its $44-$47 range.
The company raised more than $775 million through its public offering. Its stock opened at $41.50, about 12% below its IPO price. DigitalOcean is trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Datto went public last fall and Rob Rae, Datto’s senior vice president of business development, said MSP partners have a lot to look forward to with the extra cash.
Datto officially began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) last October, selling 22 million shares to raise $594 million in its IPO. Vista Equity Partners owns Datto.
“What this does is give us the ability to invest in not only growing and supporting our partners better than we have, and continue to provide great support, but it also allows us to expand a little bit and help the MSPs bring even more technology support and innovation to their market, and provide even better technology and more technology to their SMB customers,” Rae said.
McAfee went public last October. Eric Parizo, principal analyst of Omdia’s cybersecurity operations intelligence service, called it a “solid, but not spectacular” Nasdaq debut.
On opening day, shares of McAfee stock hit a high of $19.50, below its $20 IPO price, and dropped.
Lynne Doherty is McAfee’s executive vice president of global sales and marketing. She said partners have a lot to look forward to from McAfee going public.
“As a publicly traded company, McAfee plans to continue to expand the portfolio of solutions it offers through investment in new product and platform innovations,” she said. “This commitment to invest in our business to strengthen our global reach and scale will only benefit McAfee partners.”
Intermedia‘s plans to go public remain on hold. Last month, the company postponed its plans for going public, citing “challenging” conditions for tech IPOs.
On Tuesday, it confirmed it remains in a holding pattern.
In March, Intermedia announced the terms of its IPO. By going public, it plans to raise $300 million by offering 12.2 million shares for between $23 and $26 apiece. That could make Intermedia worth $1.5 billion.
Michael Gold is Intermedia’s CEO.
“While we received strong interest and engagement from the broader institutional investor market, we are seeing adverse conditions in the current IPO market that we believe would limit the opportunity of our IPO at this time,” he said.
Intermedia‘s plans to go public remain on hold. Last month, the company postponed its plans for going public, citing “challenging” conditions for tech IPOs.
On Tuesday, it confirmed it remains in a holding pattern.
In March, Intermedia announced the terms of its IPO. By going public, it plans to raise $300 million by offering 12.2 million shares for between $23 and $26 apiece. That could make Intermedia worth $1.5 billion.
Michael Gold is Intermedia’s CEO.
“While we received strong interest and engagement from the broader institutional investor market, we are seeing adverse conditions in the current IPO market that we believe would limit the opportunity of our IPO at this time,” he said.
iboss, the cloud-delivered network security provider, could join the rush of tech companies going public with an initial public offering (IPO) launch in the coming months.
The company has hired a new vice president of finance, Dmitriy Gladchenko, and a new controller, Ben Peera. They both have experience working with high-growth SaaS companies.
They’ll help guide iboss forward as the company moves toward a likely IPO. Gladchenko previously was Cloudflare‘s director of finance. Peera was Poly’s director of technical accounting, and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting. Before that, he was Cloudflare’s director of revenue.
Paul Martini is iboss’ CEO and co-founder.
iBoss’ Paul Martini
“We are focused on continuing to build our business and have seen considerable growth as more organizations turn to iboss as the best way to move their network security to the cloud,” he said. “A cloud-first future means that on-premises, appliance-based solutions no longer make sense. As we continue to grow, we’re exploring a number of strategic options including a potential IPO.”
The addition of these two leaders comes on the heels of the rapid growth iboss has experienced since raising $145 million in early January to support the company’s go-to-market efforts.
In March, iboss launched its first channel program. Its goal is to help partners meet the growing demand for secure access service edge (SASE) solutions.
iboss wants to collaborate with partners with established networks and network security practices. The new partner program offers more rewards and growth opportunities for partners to help customers looking for SASE solutions.
Check our slideshow above to see who already has or is planning to go public.
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