Nvidia-backed Cohesity eyes 2026 IPO with valuation rivaling $17 billion Rubrik

Data information steadfast Cohesity is eyeing a imaginable archetypal nationalist offering successful 2026 with ambitions to execute a valuation that rivals its publically traded $17-billion adjacent Rubrik.

The determination would people an important milestone for Nvidia-backed Cohesity, which shelved IPO plans successful 2021 to archetypal execute a analyzable merger with its rival Veritas' information extortion unit, according to Cohesity CEO Sanjay Poonen.

That deal, which made the institution the largest information extortion bundle provider, closed successful December 2024 and valued the combined entity astatine implicit $7 cardinal astatine the time.

Poonen said the combination, which brought unneurotic his fast-growing but unprofitable steadfast with the larger, highly profitable Veritas, was a risky but calculated deal.

"I made a calculation successful 2022 that we could spell public, but successful the midst of each of these companies, we'd beryllium a smaller fish," Poonen told CNBC, referring to competitors that included Rubrik and Commvault. "That's not what I wanted."

"We wanted to beryllium the biggest fish, person the biggest marketplace share, and past spell public," helium said.

That prominence was achieved erstwhile Cohesity, which antecedently held 5% of the market, acquired the 14% held by Veritas. The combined entity is present the marketplace stock person with 19% of a highly fragmented industry, according to probe from RBC Capital Markets.

Poonen signaled that the institution volition beryllium acceptable to spell nationalist arsenic soon arsenic it's capable to supply public-market investors with a afloat fiscal year's results arsenic a combined entity, which could beryllium arsenic soon arsenic "early adjacent year."

The main enforcement besides pointed retired that Cohesity's fiscal twelvemonth ends successful August, which means the institution could hold until the autumn of 2026 for its IPO.

"I deliberation if the concern continues to beryllium doing well, similar it is, 2026 volition beryllium the year," Poonen added.

IPO and M&A enactment among exertion companies with a $1-billion valuation oregon higher has picked up in 2025, compared to past year. Data from Crunchbase shows that 25 unicorns having gone nationalist oregon been acquired betwixt May 2024 and May 2025, compared with 15 implicit the aforesaid play successful the erstwhile year.

But analysts cautioned that banal marketplace volatility caused by macroeconomic factors — specified arsenic changing U.S. tariff argumentation oregon deficiency of stableness implicit the involvement complaint outlook — is apt to propulsion up hurdles.

"While we person seen immoderate unicorn-scale exit enactment done IPOs and M&As since the opening of the twelvemonth ... macroeconomic volatility has weighed connected exits," said Laia Marin one Sola, equity expert astatine Barclays, successful a July enactment to clients.

Cohesity's valuation expectations are benchmarked against Rubrik, which went nationalist successful April 2024 and presently sports a marketplace capitalization of astir $17 billion.

The institution presently trades astatine 12.75 price-to-sales aggregate (P/Sales), whilst smaller adjacent Commvault, trades astatine 7.16 times P/Sales, according to FactSet data.

Poonen argued that Cohesity, arsenic the larger entity post-merger, should bid a "comparable oregon superior valuation" if it tin show akin show metrics.

"We're a bigger vessel than them," helium said.

An IPO astir oregon exceeding Rubrik's valuation would mean Cohesity's valuation would apt much than treble since its 2023 merger with Veritas. That would pb to a monolithic windfall for aboriginal investors specified arsenic Sequoia Capital, Wing Venture Capital, Battery Ventures, Accel Partners arsenic good arsenic later-stage investors specified arsenic Softbank, Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and Baillie Gifford.

Yet, Poonen said the absorption team's absorption has been connected increasing the institution profitably. "Our absorption is not the existent stock terms of the company," Poonen explained. Instead, helium continued, "if you make semipermanent lawsuit worth and profitable growth, valuation conscionable comes. It conscionable happens."

For the twelvemonth ending July 2024, Cohesity had yearly recurring gross of $1.5 cardinal and a 28% adjusted nett margin. Before the deal, Cohesity was increasing astatine conscionable nether 30% year-over-year, portion Veritas was increasing astatine astir 5%.

Analysts astatine RBC Capital Markets noted the combined institution is expected to grow successful the mid-teens.

Whilst the maturation successful artificial quality has astatine times accrued the imaginable for a emergence successful cyber attacks, AI has besides been utilized to physique defenses and shield companies from progressively blase incidents, arsenic good arsenic little the outgo of attacks. The mean outgo of a information breach declined by 9% successful 2025 to a small much than $4.4 cardinal successful 2024, according to IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025.

"The usage of AI contributed to the simplification successful cost, but improper AI implementation and usage of shadiness AI introduced important cybersecurity risks," said JPMorgan's expert Brian Essex successful a enactment to clients this month.

Despite the downward unit connected outgo of cyber attacks, the assemblage continues to grow, arsenic much companies dainty cyber information incidents arsenic a apical priority. A study earlier this twelvemonth by information exertion steadfast Fortinet highlighted that 4 of 5 ample enterprises are acceptable to marque cyber information a C-suite level work implicit the adjacent 12 months.

Cohesity's maturation has besides benefited from a cardinal concern with AI chipmaker and capitalist Nvidia.

Cohesity's flagship AI product, named Gaia, turns traditionally backed-up information — antecedently considered "useless for AI purposes" according to RBC — into an AI-powered endeavor hunt assistant.

Poonen said the breakthrough thought of applying an AI hunt technology, known arsenic Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), to backmost up information emerged from conversations with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella — 2 men Poonen said helium has known for galore years, fixed his erstwhile acquisition arsenic a elder enforcement astatine VMware and Germany's SAP.

"We were the archetypal to instrumentality RAG to backup," Poonen said. "That's what got Nvidia's interest. They got it immediately. They enactment wealth successful the institution to backmost us."

Poonen added that a palmy IPO would beryllium a important step, but not the endgame for his strategy.

"It's a milestone. It's a precise important milestone, but it's not the destination," helium concluded.