Filing: GitLab is looking to raise as much as $624M in its US IPO, targeting a valuation of ~$9B; GitLab was valued at $6B in a January secondary share sale
Context & Ripple Effects
GitLab's filing caps a two-year valuation climb: a December 2020 secondary sale priced it at $6B, up from $2.7B in September 2019, and by January 2021 it was weighing a public listing after revenue crossed $150M annually on 74% quarterly growth. The September IPO filing disclosed the trade-off underneath — quarterly revenue up 69% to $58.1M, but net losses widening to $40.2M from $9.4M a year earlier.
First-order effects
- GitLab stands to raise up to $624M at a ~$9B valuation — a 50% step-up from the $6B January secondary — giving early employees and investors their first real liquidity event.
Second-order effects
- The filing hands public investors their first full look at GitLab's widening losses against high growth, setting the pricing benchmark underwriters must defend when the book is built.
Third-order effects
- If GitLab prices well, the filing-to-debut path — secondary sale to set a private mark, then a public raise above it — becomes the template other high-growth, loss-making dev-tools companies follow to market.
The trend: High-growth, loss-making developer-platform companies are using pre-IPO secondary sales as valuation stepping stones into public markets that reward revenue growth while absorbing widening losses.