Billion-Dollar Startup Nutanix to Start Planning IPO This Year

Virtual computing startup Nutanix says it will begin planning its initial public offering over the next few months. Based on its latest quarter, which ended July 31, Nutanix will do more than $200 million in bookings this year.

The San Jose, Calif.-based company was valued to be worth approximately $1 billion earlier this year, when it raised a $101 million Series D round led by Riverwood Capital and SAP Ventures. In total, Nutanix has raised over $172 million.

Nutanix provides a data storage and infrastructure solution for enterprises, replacing servers and traditional storage systems with one integrated appliance. The company says its solution reduces the cost and complexity of data storage for customers, which include eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY), the U.S. Postal Service, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Hyundai and the U.S. Army.

This year has been a year of rapid growth for Nutanix, according to CFO Duston Williams. Williams said Nutanix currently has 800 customers -- up from 500 in January. Twenty-nine of those customers have placed at least $1 million in orders with Nutanix.

“I’ve taken two companies public, and once we’ve taken Nutanix public, it will be my third company,” Williams, who led the IPO process at Gigamon (NYSE:GIMO) and Infinera (NASDAQ:INFN), said. “The metrics themselves would allow us to go public at pretty much any time … but we want to make this a special IPO when we do it.”

Williams said the company would be starting to work on IPO plans over the next few months, though founder and CEO Dheeraj Pandey said he’s in no immediate rush.

“We’ll be five years in age this December … and the best companies with the largest IPOs have taken seven to eight years to do it,” Pandey said. “We’re in no hurry but … it’s good for brand equity and for employees to have some liquidity.”

Nutanix is growing its headcount rapidly to support its growth. Williams said the company is adding about 100 new employees a quarter and is now selling its products in 43 countries.

And though the IPO is definitely on the horizon, Williams said the company may decide to raise a Series E before it goes public in order to fund Nutanix’s expansion.

“It could be a logical thing at some point in time before an IPO, but right now, we’re pretty well-capitalized,” he added.