So I wouldn’t call it a trend, at least not yet. More perhaps a coincidence. But it is interesting.
There have been only 3 SaaS IPOs since 2021 … a long, dry spell. But 2 out of 3 of them barely raised any venture capital at all. And 1 was basically bootstrapped.
#1. Klaviyo, Now at Almost $1B ARR, IPO’d in September 2023. Bootstrapped First 3 Years, Lightly Funded Until Growth Stage.
Klaviyo raised less than $10m in venture capital in the early days, bootstrapped the first 3 years, and that took them all the way to the growth phase. And stayed cash-flow positive for most of it. Eventually in the Go Go days they mega Series B, C and D rounds, but until they, then burnt and raised almost nothing. As a result, the founders still owned a majority of the company at IPO!
And we’re super excited founder CEO Andrew Bialecki is joining us at SaaStr Annual 2024!! Come hear the story live there!
#2. Rubrik IPO’d at $780,000,000 in ARR in April 2024. Traditionally VC Funded.
Ok Rubrik is a great one and with a Silicon Valley veteran as founder CEO, it raised from the best from the beginning. Lightspeed, Bain, Greylock, Khosla and others lined up to fund the company. Bipul was a proven winner and had been a VC himself at Lightspeed. An epic success story, and in some ways, one that marched down the “standard’ path of big rounds from top VCs from the beginning, starting with a $10m Series A from Lightspeed.
#3. OneStream, IPO’d at $480,000,000 in ARR in July 2024. Bootstrapped to $100m ARR!
OneStream was founded by a group of repeat co-founders who were able to self-fund it to get it oft the ground. So they did have resources. But they raised nothing in outside capital to get to $100m+ ARR, and then took a partial buy out from KKR. Today, they’re worth $5B+. More here:
5 Interesting Learnings from OneStream at $480,000,000 in ARR
I’m not saying this is a trend. But it is a reminder there is more than one way to build a true unicorn and go IPO.
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Jason Lemkin, Khareem Sudlow
