Anaplan Soars Over 40% After Pricing IPO At Top Of Raised Range

The markets have been a hot mess this week, but that didn’t stop Anaplan’s IPO. Anaplan, a cloud company that helps other firms make decisions and plan, is having a smashing first day as a public company to boot.

At the time of writing, shares in the newly-public Bay Area company are up an inch over 40 percent. The startup raised $263.5 million in its IPO, after selling 15.5 million shares.

(Back of the envelope, Anaplan was worth around $2.1 billion at its IPO price, depending on how you take into account its greenshoe offering. Up 40 percent, that figure rises to a little over $2.9 billion.)

Anaplan’s strong IPO performance wasn’t too hard to project. The company raised its IPO price range from $13 to $15 per share earlier in the week to $15 to $17 per share. It then priced at the top of that range.

As we’ve reported, several companies have seen similar trajectories in recent weeks. First, a filing. Then, a proposed range. Then, a bump to that range. Finally, the company in question prices either at the top of that new range or even above it. And then public markets send its shares north.

Rinse, file, repeat.

Of course, Anaplan’s success comes on a day when the major indices are rebounding after several days of pummeling. This week’s Wednesday and Thursday brought little but carnage to stocks, and tech shares especially.

Anaplan has what public investors are hunting for: growth. As Crunchbase News reported in September, when Anaplan first filed, the company “posted 68.5 percent growth, from $71.5 million to $120.5 million, during the fiscal periods roughly equating to calendar 2015 and 2016. The firm grew 39.7 million over the next twelve months, ending its fiscal year that roughly corresponded to calendar 2017 with $168.3 million in top line.”

Anaplan grew another 40 percent during the first half of its current fiscal year, an accelerated pace. Anaplan has stiff, regular losses, but growth (for now) seems to be currently worth more than profit. So, up goes its shares.

It’s another unicorn IPO in the books.

Featured image courtesy of our very own Jason Rowley.