The News: Rubrik files an S-1 with the United States Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) to go public. Learn more on the Rubrik website.
Rubrik Plans IPO: Betting on Growth in the Cloud Data Security Market
Analyst Take: Rubrik got its traction by bringing a modern approach to data backup and recovery. Initially, this was in the form of scale-out hyperconverged data protection appliances that addressed issues pertaining to secondary data growth, including making it easier to add and independently scale compute and storage resources, compared with their traditional scale-up counterparts.
This being acknowledged, Rubrik has always had broader data management and security capabilities. Notably, Rubrik creates a global content catalog that serves as the starting point for access to data and information about the data that facilitates Rubrik’s overall data management and security capabilities, including:
- Global search
- Full data lifecycle management (ingest to archive and retirement)
- Efficient management of data versions and storage capacity as requirements scale
- Data analytics and visualization
- Sensitive data discovery
- Detection of anomalous user behavior and other threats
Today, Rubrik has evolved to a software subscription-led, cloud-hosted delivery model. It is also leading with security and cyber-resiliency themes—which have become important, board-level priorities—in its marketing and portfolio development. A key example is its 2023 acquisition of data security posture management (DSPM) provider Laminar, which added a number of capabilities important to uncovering and addressing vulnerabilities and threats. For example, in addition to finding and classifying sensitive information, Laminar provides the ability to uncover security vulnerabilities and prioritize risks based on the data’s importance.
Rubrik’s S-1 document exhibited signs that this strategy is working. The company’s subscription annual recurring revenue (ARR) grew a healthy 47% year-to-year, with the metric climbing to just over $784 million for the year ended January 31, 2024. During that time period, cloud ARR grew from $239 million to nearly $525 million, and its number of customers with $100,000 or more in subscription ARR rose from just over 1,200 to 1,742.
This acknowledged, Rubrik did report in the filing a growing net loss of ($354.2 million, compared with $277.7 million in the prior year). This is not uncommon. Nutanix, for example, just reported its first operating profit—$32.8 million for its year ended January 31, 2024. And, like its peers, Rubrik is having to invest in further evolving adjacent capabilities as well as its go-to-market, as exhibited by the Laminar buy. It is notable that Rubrik has a strong ally in its evolution to embrace the cloud and address customers’ cyber-resiliency challenges—Microsoft, which has invested in Rubrik and participates in a partnership that allows for Rubrik to back up Microsoft 365 and Azure sources.
Looking ahead, Rubrik is looking to expand its share-of-wallet in existing accounts and of course to target new customers, as well. Assuming the IPO goes through, this funding will help. It underscores the criticality of data security and cyber-resiliency, given today’s ever-more sophisticated attacks, growing compliance requirements, and criticality of data.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
Other Insights from The Futurum Group:
Rubrik Enhances Protection for Amazon S3 and EKS
Rubrik’s AI-Powered Cyber Recovery Minimizes Data Loss and Downtime
Author Information
With a focus on data security, protection, and management, Krista has a particular focus on how these strategies play out in multi-cloud environments. She brings approximately 15 years of experience providing research and advisory services and creating thought leadership content. Her vantage point spans technology and vendor portfolio developments; customer buying behavior trends; and vendor ecosystems, go-to-market positioning, and business models. Her work has appeared in major publications including eWeek, TechTarget and The Register.
Prior to joining The Futurum Group, Krista led the data protection practice for Evaluator Group and the data center practice of analyst firm Technology Business Research. She also created articles, product analyses, and blogs on all things storage and data protection and management for analyst firm Storage Switzerland and led market intelligence initiatives for media company TechTarget.
