Couchbase, a US-based database technology provider backed by mobile network operator NTT Docomo, raised $200m in an initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Select Market yesterday.
The company offered just over 8.3 million shares priced at $24 each, above the $20 to $23 range for the offering. Its shares closed at $30.40 on the first day of trading, implying a market capitalisation of approximately $1.25bn.
Founded in 2009, Couchbase operates a cloud database software platform that supports the deployment of software applications on cloud or hybrid-cloud platforms.
The company generated $103m of revenue for the year ending January 2021, compared to $82.5m in the same period the year before. It recorded net losses of $29.3m for the 2020 fiscal year and $40m for the following 12 months.
Accel, Couchbase’s largest shareholder, had its stake diluted from 20.9% to 16.7% in the IPO. Its other notable shareholders include North Bridge Venture Partners, which now holds a 10.9% stake, GPI Capital (10.4%), Sorenson Capital (8.2%), Mayfield Fund (8.1%) and Adams Street Partners (4.3%).
Couchbase had secured $250m of funding prior to the offering. GPI Capital led its $105m series G round in May 2020, investing with Accel, Sorenson Capital Partners, North Bridge, Glynn Capital, Adams Street Partners and Mayfield Fund.
The company had previously pulled in $30m through a 2016 series F round led by Sorenson Capital and backed by Accel, Adams Street Partners, Ignition Partners, Mayfield Fund, North Bridge and WestSummit Capital.
Two years earlier, Couchbase raised $60m in a series E round co-led by WestSummit and Accel’s Growth Fund that included NTT Docomo’s corporate venturing unit, Docomo Capital, in addition to Adams Street Partners, Ignition Partners, North Bridge and another Accel investment vehicle.
Docomo Capital had already joined Ignition Partners, Accel, Mayfield and North Bridge in a $15m series C round for the company in 2011.
Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are lead book-running managers for the offering, while Barclays Capital and RBC Capital Markets are joint book-running managers and William Blair & Company, Stifel Nicolaus, Baird and Oppenheimer are co-managers.
The underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase about 1.3 million additional shares, which could increase the size of the offering to approximately $232m.