All-Remote GitLab Valued at $15B in NASDAQ's First-Ever Livestreamed IPO Day

"Long before the pandemic, software business GitLab operated fully remotely, building its developer tools without any physical office..." remembers Forbes. "The company went public on Thursday on Nasdaq under the ticker 'GTLB.' Priced at $77, shares of GitLab closed their first day of trading at $103.89, up 35%, giving GitLab a market cap of nearly $15 billion." In an interview, CEO Sid Sijbrandij (pronounced "see brandy") said that going public would help GitLab to remain a well-resourced, long-standing steward of the open-source project on top of which its business software is built. "This had to happen sometime," Sijbrandij says. "We knew we were ready, the markets were ready, so why not take the step today?" At its closing price on Thursday, GitLab's IPO has made Sijbrandij a new tech billionaire, with an equity stake valued at $2.3 billion; in addition, he also sold about $150 million worth of Gitlab shares as part of the company's offering. With revenue of $58 million in its previous quarter, up 69% year over year, on losses of $40 million, GitLab fits the mold of a classic high-growth, unprofitable business-to-business software provider — cloud players that have in recent years proven popular, and able to command high multiples, with Wall Street. While its losses have narrowed recently, GitLab still generates about $1.50 in new business for each $1 spent by customers previously on its tools, putting it in elite company in the category... The company was the first-ever on Nasdaq to livestream its entire IPO day, with about 18,000 people stopping by over the course of the broadcast, it says.... Sijbrandij also became known as one of remote work's leading evangelists, advocating a no-hybrid, radically transparent office culture he says is fairer and more productive. That purist view remains a hiring advantage, he tells Forbes now; it also helps explain the livestream, part marketing opportunity and part way to include GitLab employees and advocates across the globe. "It's always behind closed doors," Sijbrandij says of the IPO festivities and listing process. Originally from the Netherlands, Sijbrandij added his parents were two of the viewers. "It was awesome to share it with the world."

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