Greylock Partner’s $40 Million Bet on Rubrik Pays Off Big Time
In early 2015, Asheem Chandna, a partner at Greylock, took a chance on a young company called Rubrik that had yet to build its product. Little did he know that this decision would lead to a massive payoff nine years later.
Chandna was impressed by Rubrik’s CEO, Bipul Sinha, who presented a compelling plan to revolutionize the data management and recovery market. Chandna saw the potential for Rubrik to become a large business and decided to lead the company’s $40 million Series B funding round in May 2015.
Fast forward to Thursday, Rubrik made its debut as a publicly traded company with a market cap of over $6 billion. Greylock’s 13% stake in the company is now worth over $756 million, thanks to the shares priced at $38 each.
Chandna attributes his investment in Rubrik to more than just the company’s market potential. He believes that venture capital is a people business and looks for motivated individuals with grit and self-awareness in the founders he backs.
Sinha’s determination and ambition to build Rubrik despite facing challenges in recruiting talent paid off in the end. The company now boasts just under $800 million in annualized recurring revenue, making it one of the most successful IPOs in recent years.
While Chandna remains tight-lipped about the future prospects of other Greylock portfolio companies, he is confident in the firm’s best-performing late-stage businesses like Abnormal Security, Cato Networks, Discord, Figma, and Lyra Health.
As Rubrik’s success story unfolds, investors and industry watchers will be keeping a close eye on the fate of other promising startups in Greylock’s portfolio.