GitLab confirmed with ProWellTech that it oversaw a $ 195 million secondary sale that values the company at $ 6 billion. CNBC unveiled the story today.
The company's impressive valuation comes after its most recent 2019 E series in which it raised $ 268 million on a valuation of 2.75 billion, an increase of $ 3.25 billion in less than 18 months. Company co-founder and CEO Sid Sijbrandij believes the increase is due to his company's progress in adding features to the platform.
"We believe the increase in valuation over the past year reflects our full DevOps platform's progress towards realizing a greater share of the growing, multi-billion dollar software development market," he told ProWellTech.
Although the startup raised more than $ 434 million, this round involved buying employee stock options, a move that allows the company's workers to cash in on their own capital before going public. CNBC reported that the companies that bought the shares included Alta Park, HMI Capital, OMERS Growth Equity, TCV, and Verition.
The next logical step would appear to be the IPO, something the company has never backed down from. In fact, it actually at one point included the proposed date of November 18, 2020 as the target date for the IPO on the corporate wiki. Even if they didn't reach the goal, Sijbrandij still sees the company going public at some point. It's just not as specific as it used to be, suggesting the company has plenty of walkways left over from the latest funding round and can go public when the time is right.
"We continue to believe that being a public company is an integral part of fulfilling our mission. As a public limited company, GitLab would benefit from increased brand awareness, access to capital, shareholder liquidity, autonomy and transparency, "he said.
He added: "Having said that, we want to maximize the result by selecting an appropriate time. Our most recent capital increase was in 2019 and contributed to an already healthy balance sheet. A solid balance sheet and business model allow us to select a period that works best to achieve our long-term goals. "
GitLab has not only posted the IPO goals on its Wiki, but the entire company philosophy, goals and OKRs for all to see. Sijbrandij told ProWellTech's Alex Wilhelm on a ProWellTech Disrupt panel in September that he believes transparency helps attract and retain employees. It doesn't hurt that the company was and remains a completely remote organization, even pre-COVID.
"We started [this level of] transparency to connect with the wider community around GitLab, but it has proved extremely beneficial in attracting great talent as well, "Sijbrandij told Wilhelm in September.
The company, launched in 2014, offers a DevOps platform to help move applications through the programming lifecycle.
Update: The original title of this story has been changed from "GitLab Raises $ 195 Million in Secondary Funding on a $ 6 Billion Valuation".
