Varonis Systems Doubles In IPO

Varonis Systems (NASDAQ:VRNS), a data software provider, doubled on its first day of trading on Friday. The company priced at $22 per share and ended the day at $44.

New York-based Varonis is listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker “VRNS.” Nasdaq -- along with Barclays (NYSE:BCS), Philip Morris (NYSE:PM) and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art -- is a client of Varonis data services.

CEO Yaki Faitelson says the company will continue to focus on their core business: “We will continue to build software that helps companies manage, protect and get the most out of their human-generated data...Every file you create, every email you send can contain critical intellectual capital.” Varonis helps companies analyze and protect this data.

Varonis suggests that if the NSA had its software, it may have prevented an Edward Snowden-like situation, as its software alerts employers when documents are breached.

Varonis raised $106 million in the offering and will use the proceeds to “invest in innovation and sales capacity, so we can bring more products to more customers more quickly," according to Faitelson.

Faitelson says that now was the optimal time to IPO because “data is growing at an unstoppable rate.” The company currently has 2,400 customers, four times what it had in 2010.

He is optimistic about the company’s future saying that “by 2020, a typical company will have to manage and protect 14 times more data than it does today.”

The startup has received $29 million in venture capital from Accel Partners, Evergreen Venture Partners and Pitango Venture Capital.

Varonis say its 2013 revenues grew by 40% to $75 million, up from $53 million the year before. Losses were $7.5 million, a 54% increase from $4.8 million.