Hybrid IT Startup MuleSoft Eyes Acquisitions After IPO Success

Alex Barinka (Bloomberg) -- MuleSoft Inc., the San Francisco-based maker of cloud software, soared in its trading debut after pricing its initial public offering above the marketed share price range.

DCK: MuleSoft's platform interconnects disparate enterprise IT systems, including on-premise and in the cloud, with each other. 

The stock jumped 46 percent to $24.75 at the close in New York, valuing the company at about $3.1 billion. Mulesoft raised $221 million, according to a statement Thursday, pricing its shares at $17 -- above the marketed range of $14 to $16 each.

MuleSoft plans to use proceeds from the IPO for general corporate purposes, including possible acquisitions, according to the prospectus. The stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker MULE.

“There’s always acquisition opportunity for us as a technology company,” Chief Executive Officer Greg Schott said in an interview at the NYSE. “The areas we look at are around security as well as analytics -- those are some opportunities for us to potentially do some tuck-in acquisitions over time.”

MuleSoft is the third technology company to go public in the U.S. this year, after  Snap Inc. raised $3.9 billion including an overallotment and sponsor-backed Presidio Inc.’s $233 million IPO. Snap, which makes the disappearing-photo app Snapchat, surged in its first two days of trading. The stock has since taken a turn, paring most of its gains to close at $19.54 on Friday, about 15 percent above its IPO price of $17 each.

AppDynamics Inc., another tech company that started to market its shares this year, instead agreed to be acquired by Cisco Systems Inc. the day before its deal was set to price.

MuleSoft has raised $260 million in private funding, including a $128 million cash infusion from its last financing round in May 2015. Investors include Salesforce Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Meritech Capital Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. led the offering.