Nvidia-backed Cohesity eyes 2026 IPO with valuation rivaling $17 billion Rubrik
Sanjay Poonen, CEO of Cohesity is the former COO of VMware and President of SAP.
Scott Mlyn | CNBC
Data security firm Cohesity is eyeing a potential initial public offering in 2026 with ambitions to achieve a valuation that rivals its publicly traded $17-billion peer Rubrik.
The move would mark an important milestone for Nvidia-backed Cohesity, which shelved IPO plans in 2021 to first execute a complex merger with its rival Veritas’ data protection unit, according to Cohesity CEO Sanjay Poonen.
That deal, which made the company the largest data protection software provider, closed in December 2024 and valued the combined entity at over $7 billion at the time.
Poonen said the combination, which brought together his fast-growing but unprofitable firm with the larger, highly profitable Veritas, was a risky but calculated deal.
“I made a calculation in 2022 that we could go public, but in the midst of all of these companies, we’d be a smaller fish,” Poonen told CNBC, referring to competitors that included Rubrik and Commvault. “That’s not what I wanted.”
“We wanted to be the biggest fish, have the biggest market share, and then go public,” he said.
That prominence was achieved when Cohesity, which previously held 5% of the market, acquired the 14% held by Veritas. The combined entity is now the market share leader with 19% of a highly fragmented industry, according to research from RBC Capital Markets.
Poonen signaled that the company will be ready to go public as soon as it’s able to provide public-market investors with a full financial year’s results as a combined entity, which could be as soon as “early next year.”
The chief executive also pointed out that Cohesity’s financial year ends in August, which means the company could wait until the fall of 2026 for its IPO.
“I think if the business continues to be doing well, like it is, 2026 will be the year,” Poonen added.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella — two men Poonen said he has known for many years, given his previous experience as a senior executive at VMware and Germany’s SAP.
“We were the first to implement RAG to backup,” Poonen said. “That’s what got Nvidia’s interest. They got it immediately. They put money in the company to back us.”
Poonen added that a successful IPO would be a crucial step, but not the endgame for his strategy.
“It’s a milestone. It’s a very important milestone, but it’s not the destination,” he concluded.
[title_words_as_hashtags
