IPO Public Markets

Confluent IPO: Here Are The Biggest Winners 

Shares of data streaming platform Confluent closed at $45.02 on Thursday, or 25 percent above their IPO price on their first day of trading.

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The Mountain View-based company raised around $828 million through its IPO. Confluent priced its shares at $36 apiece, above its intended range of $29 to $33. The company saw its stock price pop 22 percent when it began trading Thursday, opening at $44.

Confluent is a data streaming platform that’s based on Apache Kafka. Its data infrastructure connects all of a company’s applications and systems and tracks events going on within the company in real-time. 

The company was founded in 2014 by CEO Jay Kreps, Jun Rao and Neha Narkhede. The three initially worked at LinkedIn and developed Apache Kafka there in 2011. Confluent was later spun out of LinkedIn, and LinkedIn invested in the company’s $6.9 million Series A in November 2014.

Confluent last raised a $250 million Series E in April 2020, and is now valued at more than $10 billion after its first day of trading.

Here are the biggest winners from the IPO:

Benchmark

Number of shares: 35,015,997

Percentage: 15.3 percent

Value of stake at IPO price: Nearly $1.3 billion

Benchmark led Confluent’s $6.9 million Series A in November 2014. It holds the largest number of shares in the company and has the most voting power. The company saw its stake come up to nearly $1.3 billion at Confluent’s IPO price of $36 apiece.

 

Index Ventures

Number of shares: 29,813,391

Percentage: 13 percent

Value of stake at IPO price: More than $1 billion

Index Ventures led Confluent’s $24 million Series B in July 2015. The firm is the second-largest shareholder in the company, with a stake now worth more than $1 billion.

 

Jun Rao

Number of shares: 24,395,818

Percentage: 10.6 percent

Value of stake at IPO price: More than $878 million

Jun Rao is the co-founder of Confluent, along with Jay Kreps and Neha Narkhede. Rao is listed as one of the largest shareholders in the company, with a more than 10 percent stake. Rao’s stake at the IPO price comes out to more than $878 million.

 

Sequoia Capital

Number of shares: 21,405,289 

Percentage: 9.3 percent

Value of stake at IPO price: More than $770 million

Sequoia first led Confluent’s $50 million Series C in March 2017, before leading its $125 million Series D in January 2019. The firm’s stake is the smallest of the largest shareholders, but still comes out to more than $770 million at the IPO price of $36.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias

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