Software Startup New Relic Looks to Raise $100 Million in IPO

Analytics software startup New Relic announced plans for an initial public offering today, saying it will seek to raise $100 million under the ticker symbol NEWR.

Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan Securities were listed in the lead positions on the cover sheet; Allen and Co. and UBS Securities will act as joint book-running managers. JMP Securities and Raymond James will be co-managers. The company didn’t disclose which exchange it will trade on.

In its most recent fiscal year ended March 31, New Relic posted a loss of $39.4 million on revenue of $63.2 million. It looks to be on track to break through the $100 million revenue mark considered a key hurdle for going public, having posted nearly $50 million and a loss of $19.4 million during the six-month period ended Sept. 30.

We first told you about New Relic in March. Its cloud-based software monitors the real-time performance of Web applications or indeed any other software. From there it pivoted into analytics, essentially making the case that if that software — be it a smartphone app or a website used to sell products — can be tracked by the second, problems can be fixed before they become serious, and also that patterns can be recognized and turned into opportunities to make more money or to reduce costs.

“With our products, technology users can quickly find and fix performance problems as well as predict and prevent future issues,” CEO Lew Cirne wrote in a letter to prospective investors included in the filing. “Business users such as product managers can get answers to how their new product launch is being received, or how a pricing change impacted customer retention, without waiting for help from IT.”

Cirne himself stands to make out well in the offering: He owns more than 27 percent of New Relic’s shares and is its largest single shareholder. Benchmark Capital is its second-largest shareholder with a stake worth 22 percent. Benchmark’s Peter Fenton led the firm’s $3.5 million Series A in New Relic in 2008 and has a seat on its board. Benchmark went on to invest in four more funding rounds as it went on to raise nearly $215 million from venture capital and private equity investors.

It was the second company with an investment by Fenton to file for an IPO today. The first was Hortonworks, which announced its plan to float its shares earlier today.

When New Relic secured a $100 million round led by the investment firm Blackrock in April, the deal valued New Relic at about $1.3 billion.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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