Nutanix sizzles in stock market debut
Rival SimpliVity says IPO validates hyperconverged market
The hyperconverged systems market has received a huge vote of confidence after its leading protagonist, Nutanix, performed the most successful US IPO this year.
Nutanix's shares soared by 133 per cent on Friday, the highest opening-day bounce of any US listing so far in 2016, according to the Financial Times.
Its market valuation now stands at a cool $5.08bn (£3.94bn) following its NASDAQ debut.
Nutanix claims its technology, which converges servers, virtualisation and storage resources into one integrated platform delivered on commodity x86 servers, can slash TCO by up to 60 per cent compared with traditional infrastructure.
The hyperconverged systems segment in which it operates grew 71 per cent to $561m in 2015, according to Gartner.
The market watcher said in a research note published in August that Nutanix "dominates" the hypercoverged segment of the integrated systems market, boasting a 52 per cent market share last year.
Rival hyperconverged player SimpliVity was quick to seize on the success of its peer's sizzling IPO.
"We're seeing greater mainstream adoption and unparalleled growth in the hyperconverged infrastructure market, and Nutanix's IPO further validates that the market momentum is accelerating," said SimpliVity CEO Doron Kempel.
"Enterprises of all sizes are eager to benefit from the simplicity, efficiency and elasticity that hyperconvergence provides. We congratulate the Nutanix team on their great efforts and success."
According to Nutanix's S-1 filing, its revenues rose from $30.5m in 2013 to $127.1m in 2014 and $241.4m in 2015. Counting Dell and Lenovo as its two big OEM partners, it sells primarily through the channel.
Nutanix's scorching debut could provide a much-needed boost for tech start-ups, and the US IPO market more generally: according to Dealogic data cited by the FT, US listings are at their lowest level since the financial crisis, with just 80 firms having gone public in the US so far this year, down from 143 on an annual comparison.