Samsara Shares Pop on Software Maker’s Trading Debut
American IoT company Samsara had its IPO debut on Wednesday and rose 7.4% as Wall Street welcomed the company to the NYSE.
Samsara was able to raise $805 million in its initial public offering at the top of a marketed range.
Shares sold for $23 in the IPO, opening trading in New York Wednesday at $24.90. They closed at $24.70, giving the company a market value of more than $12 billion. This is more than double where private investors estimated its worth in its last venture round in May 2020.
It was in February that Bloomberg News had reported that the company was aiming for its valuation in an IPO to exceed its $5.4 billion value in a funding round in 2020 that was led by Dragoneer Investment Group, Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic.
Samsara, which is focused on the so-called internet of things, has hardware and cloud-based software that are designed to help businesses run physical operations such as fleet management more efficiently.
The company had reported a net loss of $102 million on revenue of $303 million for the nine months ended Oct. 30, compared with a loss and revenue of $174 million a year earlier, according to its filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Co-founders Sanjit Biswas, who is chief executive officer, and John Bicket, the chief technology officer, control more than 24% of the shareholder voting power after the IPO, the filings show.
The company’s largest investor, affiliates of Andreessen Horowitz, has 17.5% of the voting power, while General Catalyst controls 9.7%.
“Within a few quarters demand came back very quickly,” Biswas said. “We’re seeing companies be even more interested in real-time data.”
With the proceeds from the IPO, the company may pursue acquisitions according to Biswas.
Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.