Cybersecurity Firm Targets $80M IPO

Rapid7, a Boston-based cybersecurity firm, confirmed plans to go public when it filed papers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week. The company will seek to raise $80 million in its IPO, according to the filing.

Launched in 2000, the company utilizes data and analytics to provide a risk-based approach to security, focused on detecting system intrusions and reducing threats. Common stock will be listed on the NASDAQ global market under the symbol “RPD.”

“The company’s 2015 Q1 revenue of $23.6 million is up 41 percent from 2014. Rapid7 is not yet profitable with a net loss of $32.6 million last year and $8.5 million in the last quarter,” Forbes reported.

Due to quiet period restrictions, the company declined to comment on the recent filing.

Rapid7 secured $30 million in funding last December and has raised $89 million in total funding to date from investors including Bain Capital and Technology Crossover Ventures. As of this March, the company reported 3,900 customers in more than 90 countries, with 3.7 billion assets scanned weekly.

According to Fortune, “the company will join an elite group of security companies that have moved from private venture capital markets into the public investing arena in recent years, which include FireEye in 2013 and Palo Alto Networks in 2012.”

With the booming number of security breaches and attacks on consumer data, venture capitalists’ interest in companies within the cybersecurity industry may also be on the rise.

Forbes cited research performed by PitchBook, which stated that there have only been 17 IPOs in the security industry since 2009. Rapid7’s IPO may be the first since MobileIron’s $100 million exit last July. According to the research, FireEye holds the record for the biggest security IPO in the past five years at $349 million back in 2013.

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