Data protection startup Rubrik Inc., which was valued at more than $4 billion when it raised money from backers that included Microsoft Corp. two years ago, has hired a number of banks to assist with its initial public offering, according to a report today by Reuters.

The report cites no less than four anonymous sources who are familiar with the matter, who state Rubrik is working with Goldman Sachs, Barclays Plc and Citigroup Inc. on its planned stock market listing.

The sources, who requested anonymity because the discussions remain confidential, said Rubrik is looking to raise about $750 million in its IPO, though the amount may change based on market conditions nearer the time, as preparations are still at a very early stage. The company currently generates about $600 million in annual recurring revenue, according to one of the sources.

Reuters added that Rubrik is most likely to go public next year, assuming the IPO market becomes more welcoming. There have been very few IPOs this year because the market has been incredibly volatile of late.

Rubrik, based in Palo Alto, California, sells popular data protection tools that are used by enterprises to ensure their business records can be recovered in the event of a ransomware attack or some technical issue. With Rubrik, customers can keep backups of their data in the cloud where they can be easily accessed. Its products implement a zero-trust data management approach that works by ensuring ransomware attacks cannot compromise any backed-up records.

The foundation of Rubrik’s technology is DataGuardian, which is a data management system that enables backups to be stored in an immutable format, meaning they cannot be deleted or edited by anyone. By removing the ability to modify backups, Rubrik makes it impossible for ransomware to encrypt those files. As a result, companies can easily restore hijacked information, without needing to pay any ransom for it.

Rubrik reportedly serves more than 5,000 enterprise customers, including Nvidia Corp. and Home Depot Inc. Its annual recurring revenue tied to software subscriptions reportedly surpassed $500 million in January.

To date, Rubrik has raised more than $1 billion in funding from investors that include Microsoft, Bain Capital Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

This year has not been good for IPOs, which have raised a total of just $7.7 billion in the year to date, according to data from Dealogic — and that includes the $3.8 billion raised by Kenvue Inc., the consumer health division of Johnson & Johnson Services Inc.

However, there have been signs recently that the IPO market is thawing, with recent reports elsewhere suggesting that the chipmaker Arm Ltd. and the marketing automation software provider Klaviyo Inc. are both moving ahead with their own plans for a public listing.

“When market conditions change for the better it is often the strongest companies that look to test the waters first, and that seems to be the case here with Rubrik, which has a strong data protection offering,” said Holger Mueller of Constellation Research Inc. “If the rumors of its IPO turn out to be true, it will be a strong sign that the IPO market is coming back to life. It will be a positive development, because startups nowadays desperately need additional funding to invest in the new AI reality of today.”

Image: Rubrik