Cohesity Upcoming IPO: Public plans go into storage as attention turns to acquisition
After filing for an IPO in December 2021, data management and security firm Cohesity2 ended up reversing course, due to difficult stock market conditions in 2022. Then, in 2023, speculation picked back up, with CEO Sanjay Poonen telling Business Insider that Cohesity remained "in a state of public readiness."
Cohesity’s IPO plans seem to once again be delayed, this time due to the acquisition of Veritas's data protection business, which is expected to close by the end of 2024 subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. Poonen told CRN that Cohesity will not go public in 2024,3 due to the focus on completing this acquisition that would create a combined company worth $7 billion.4 After that closes, however, Cohesity has its sights set on becoming the top player in the data protection market.5
"That puts us in a much stronger position to go public," Poonen said in the CRN interview.6
Cohesity: Company Background
Cohesity is a data security and management company that helps both governments and private companies in a variety of data-related areas, such as backup and recovery, compliance, analytics, and more.
The company was founded in 2013 with the aim of solving data fragmentation issues, making it easier for organizations to back up and protect their data within one platform, while also being able to make better use of their data. 7 Cohesity was founded by Mohit Aron, who served as CEO for roughly nine years, before transitioning to chief technology and product officer in 2022. At that time, the company brought in Poonen to be the new CEO. 8 He previously served as COO at VMware and as president of SAP.
Cohesity's leadership team also includes Eric Brown, who was brought on as CFO in 2023. Brown led the IPO at Informatica, another data management company, which helped fuel speculation of upcoming plans for a Cohesity IPO.9
Steady Data Demand
As businesses and governments continue to rely more on digital processes, and as cybersecurity threats continue to evolve, the need for data management and security solutions is growing at a steady pace.
As a whole, Cohesity, after merging with Veritas's data protection business, will have a total addressable market worth over $30 billion, according to Cohesity’s press release about the merger.10 Over one-third of that comes from the data replication and protection software market, which IDC estimates will grow from $11.4 billion to $12.2 billion in 202411 and reach $13.9 billion in 2027.12
The emergence of generative AI is also fueling the need for data solutions. Cohesity has worked with AI leader Nvidia on a strategic partnership to launch Cohesity Gaia, an AI solution that Cohesity customers can use to better understand and explore their data.13 Nvidia is also an investor in Cohesity.
How might these developments affect Cohesity’s public plans? It’s worth considering that competitor Rubrik had its own successful IPO at the end of April 2024. 14 In other words, there's precedent in the market for a company like Cohesity to go public, though Cohesity seems to be focused on achieving more growth as a private company first.
As CEO Poonen told CRN, Rubrik filed to go public while being in seventh place for market share in IDC's rankings for the data protection and management market, while Cohesity is in the eighth spot. But with Veritas at number three, Cohesity has its sights on reaching the top position after the acquisition, said Poonen, with the eventual goal of reaching $5 billion in revenue.
Cohesity Forge Price Returns
In April 2024, Cohesity raised a Series F primary round which priced the company's shares at $15.66 for a $3.4 billion post-money valuation.15 This funding round included strategic investments from tech giants IBM and Nvidia.16 This represented a step-up from its Series E in 2020, when the share price was $13.86 at a post-money valuation of $2.48 billion.17
Looking at the Forge Price, Cohesity has outperformed both the Forge Private Market Index and the Enterprise Software sector over the last year, though the company’s performance has lagged both broader groupings in Q2 2024.
Forge Price™ is a derived data point that reflects the up-to-date price performance of venture-backed, late-stage companies. It is calculated based on a proprietary model incorporating pricing inputs from publicly-available primary funding round information, secondary market transactions, and indications of interest (IOIs) on Forge.
Cohesity Funding History and Private Market Valuation
To date, Cohesity has raised approximately $815 million, dating back to its 2013 Series A. At that time, Cohesity raised nearly $18 million at a $44.44 million post-money valuation, drawing investment from Sequoia Capital and Wing Venture Capital.18
In 2018, Cohesity reached unicorn status, raising $250 million for its Series D at a $1.1 billion post-money valuation.19 That funding round was led by an investment from Softbank, along with several other investors such as Cisco Investments, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), and Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital.20
Cohesity has also received investments from a number of other tech companies, such as Amazon21 and the venture arms of Google and Qualcomm.22
“Every company who invests in us that is a tech company wants us to also partner with them,” CEO Poonen told CRN.23
Looking Ahead
While a date for Cohesity’s IPO has not been set, it seems plausible that more clarity will come around 2025, after the Cohesity and Veritas deal wraps up. Still, it's worth considering that there have been a couple false starts already, so it's hard to say if next year will be the time when plans to go public actually move forward.
Check back here or take a look at Forge’s upcoming IPO calendar to stay in the loop about a possible Cohesity IPO and other pending public offerings.
If you’re interested in investing in private companies like Cohesity before they go public, read more about pre-IPO investing or register on Forge Markets today to get started.
FAQ About the Cohesity IPO
Cohesity is a data management and security company that helps organizations manage data needs such as data backup and recovery. The company is also focusing on AI solutions to help companies make better use of their data, rather than simply storing data.
Cohesity had started the process of going public in 2021, but that got delayed due to rough conditions for IPOs in 2022. While speculation picked up in 2023, the company now seems focused on completing its acquisition of Veritas's data protection business this year, as the CEO told CRN.24 After that, Cohesity could go public.
Cohesity has many notable investors, such as SoftBank, Sequoia Capital, and Battery Ventures, as well as investments from major tech companies (in some cases their venture arms) such as Amazon, Cisco Investments, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Hewlett Packard Pathfinder, Nvidia, and Qualcomm Ventures.25
Because Cohesity is still a private company, only accredited investors can invest in Cohesity stock directly. Individual accredited investors may be able to invest in pre-IPO shares of Cohesity through private market platforms like Forge. If Cohesity does eventually follow through with an IPO, then investing in Cohesity stock would be open to the general public.
About the Author
Jake Safane specializes in financial reporting and is a former thought leadership editor for The Economist with articles appearing in Business Insider and The Washington Post among other media outlets. Mr. Safane has received compensation from Forge Global, Inc. for authoring this article. Read more from Jake.