GitLab Inc., which provides a cloud service to enable software developers to share code and collaborate on projects, today announced plans to go public with an initial offering of stock.

The San Francisco-based company, which counts among its competitors Microsoft Corp.-owned GitHub and Atlassian Corp. PLC’s BitBucket, didn’t reveal yet how much it plans to raise or precisely when it will do the IPO. It was last valued at $6 billion after a secondary share sale in January, and has raised a total of $400 million from investors such as Khosla Ventures, Altimeter Capital, TCV, Franklin Templeton and Coatue Management.

The filing comes at a time when a raft of software and cloud companies are going public amid a bit appetite by investors for initial offerings. That appetite extends to companies that can demonstrate rapid growth, even if they’re also losing lots of money — and that includes GitLab.

GitLab reported revenue of $108.1 million for the six months ended July 31, a jump of 69% from the same period a year ago. And its annualized revenue hit $233 million in the most recent quarter. But it also had a net loss of $69 million in the same period, up from $43.5 million a year ago.

In an interview last year on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media Inc.’s video studio (below), co-founder and Chief Executive Sid Sijbrandij (pictured) noted the publicity value of an IPO. “One of the big things holding GitLab back is we’re not as well known,” he said. “Becoming a public company will help spread awareness about what we can do. We don’t mind sharing what we’re about and what our financials are.”

GitLab was well-prepared for the remote-work imperative of the pandemic. Its workforce of 1,350 in more than 65 countries has worked remotely since the company started as a business in 2014, after three years as an open-source project.

The company outlined plans for spending the proceeds, including “significant investments in sales and marketing, research and development, and our partner ecosystem” along with global expansion.

At nearly 19% ownership of Class B shares, Sijbrandij is the largest stakeholder, while Khosla Ventures owns 14%.

Shares will float under the ticker symbol GTLB. Lead underwriters on the deal are Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and BofA Securities.

Photo: SiliconANGLE