Nutanix sets $11 to $13 a share price range for IPO, aims to raise $209M at up to $1.8B valuation, down from last reported private valuation of $2B in 2014
IPOs, tech, alternative investments, CEO VentureDeal.com channelnomics.eu : Nutanix targeting $209m windfall from pending IPO Barb Darrow / Fortune : Here Are the Terms for Nutanix's Long-Awaited Public Offering Eugene Kim / Business Insider : The next big tech IPO of the year is starting to look like a bummer Bloomberg : In China, women launch 55% of Internet companies, and make up 17% of investing partners in VC firms
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the pricing moment in a nine-month wait: Nutanix filed to go public back in December with a $200M target, then spent most of 2016 on the sidelines while the market cooled on tech offerings. The range lands below the company's last private mark — up to $1.8B versus the $2B it carried since 2014.
The discount is striking given what the updated September filing showed: revenue of $444.9M up 84% year over year and billings up 106%, offset by a widening $165M operating loss. Pricing a hyper-growth company under its private valuation is a deliberate concession to get the deal done.
First-order effects
- Nutanix and its venture backers are accepting a markdown: at $11–$13 a share the company debuts worth less than its 2014 private round, meaning later-stage investors who paid into that $2B mark start public life underwater on paper.
Second-order effects
- Pricing below the private mark while carrying 84% growth sets up a classic underpricing pop — and indeed the deal ultimately raised $238M at a $4.05B valuation before closing up 131% on day one near $5B, leaving roughly half the opening value on the table for public rather than private holders.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds across the 2016 class, IPOs priced beneath private rounds become the norm: late-stage funds must mark down unicorn portfolios at exit, and founders learn that the public market's discount is the toll for liquidity after a frothy private cycle.
The trend: Public markets are repricing 2014–2015-vintage unicorns below their private valuations at IPO, trading a down-round entry price for a guaranteed first-day pop.