Tenable 'Laser-Focused' Post IPO

Cybersecurity firm Tenable became a public company Thursday and its stock closed out the first day up nearly 32 percent.

The company raised $250 million in the public offering, pricing its nearly 11 million shares at $23 each, above the expected range of $20-22 per share. The stock trades on the Nasdaq exchange.

Amit Yoran, Tenable’s CEO, tells Channel Partners that operating as a public company will “give us the ability to accelerate on our vision, our product development and our ability to help customers understand and reduce cyber exposure in this age of digital transformation.”

“We remain laser-focused to make sure we’re delivering on our mission, and that we continue to deliver the world-class products, services and support that our customers have come to expect from us,” he said.

Amit Yoran

Amit Yoran

Other cybersecurity companies are eyeing Wall Street. Crowdstrike and Tanium also are reportedly considering IPOs, according to a CNBC report.

Rik Turner, principal analyst at Ovum, said there is “clearly an appetite for cybersecurity flotations.”

“Given the seemingly endless succession of headlines about data breaches, investors have confidence that the majority of the cyber companies going public are guaranteed healthy revenues for the foreseeable future,” he said. “Tenable in particular starts from a position of strength, in that it has been around since 2002 and so already has a significant customer base, and recurring revenue.”

An advantage of being a public company is that, provided business is going well, it’s relatively easy to raise money for new ventures by issuing more shares, Turner said.

“The downside is, of course, that the company will now be subject to the so-called tyranny of Wall Street, in that every quarter, the company will have to satisfy the financial analysts, and investors generally, that both its top and bottom lines are growing healthily,” he said. “Otherwise its market capitalization will be punished, as is graphically demonstrated by the latest record plunge in Facebook’s share price.”

In May, Tenable unveiled a new certification program designed to change how the company’s partners and joint customers understand and reduce their cyber risk. The Cyber Exposure program stresses “technical excellence” and prepares partners not only to deploy and manage the Tenable.io platform, but also implement technology integrations, the company said. Courses are now available on Tenable University.

Tenable customers include 53 percent of the Fortune 500, 29 percent of the Global 2000 and large government agencies.