ForgeRock, which makes identity management software, has filed for an IPO seeking to raise $100M; sources say it may seek a valuation of $3B-$4B+
Context & Ripple Effects
ForgeRock's filing caps a long private run: an $88M Series D led by Accel in 2017 followed by a $93.5M Series E in 2020 led by Riverwood Capital and Accenture Ventures. The company is now testing the public market for enterprise identity software, telling sources it may price itself at $3B-$4B+ on a modest $100M raise.
The timing matters: this lands squarely in a 2021 window when infrastructure-software issuers are lining up, with HashiCorp following two months later with a reported $10B+ target. The subsequent record shows how the trade resolved — a 46% first-day pop to a ~$2.9B cap, then a take-private.
First-order effects
- ForgeRock's backers — Accel, Riverwood Capital, and Accenture Ventures — get their first liquidity event after four-plus years and two late-stage rounds, with the $100M raise sized small relative to the claimed $3B-$4B+ valuation, signaling existing holders dominate the float.
- Identity-management rivals now face a publicly listed competitor with fresh capital to spend on sales and consolidation in digital identity.
Second-order effects
- HashiCorp's filing weeks later shows the same playbook spreading across cloud-infrastructure software: file into the open window, aim high on valuation, raise modestly.
- A successful debut at the sought range would set a public comparable that re-prices private identity and access-management startups' fundraising benchmarks.
Third-order effects
- The endgame already visible in the corpus — Thoma Bravo taking ForgeRock private for $2.3B in cash, below its ~$2.9B debut market cap per the 46% NYSE pop — points to 2021's enterprise-software IPO cohort maturing into private-equity take-private targets once rate-sensitive multiples compressed.
The trend: Enterprise infrastructure and identity software companies rushed to list in the 2021 IPO window, only to become private-equity take-private candidates when public valuations reset.