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GitHub rival GitLab files to go public on revenue over $200 million

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GitLab CEO Sid Sijbrandij at company event in London

GitLab

GitLab, a provider of cloud-based software that allows developers to share code and collaborate on projects, is the latest high-growth tech company to line up for an IPO.

The company said on Friday that it plans to list on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol “GTLB.” GitLab is raising money to take on Atlassian and GitHub, which Microsoft acquired for $7.5 billion in 2018.

GitLab is joining the growing list of cloud-based software companies that are preparing to capitalize on an ongoing bull market which values growth over all other things. Toast, which sells software and hardware to help restaurants manage orders and move to takeout, is slated to debut next week, along with Freshworks, a smaller competitor to Salesforce in providing software to customer service and sales organizations.

GitLab revenue increased 69% from the previous quarter to $58.1 million. That’s an increase of more than $230 million annually. But, GitLab’s net loss increased from $9.4 million to $40 million last year.

GitLab said its net revenue retention rate, a key metric for subscription software companies because it shows customer success, climbed to 152% in the July period. This would place it among the most publicly traded software companies.

GitLab is widely known as a pioneer in remote work. GitLab is widely known as a pioneer in distributed work. While many businesses had to adjust to the new distribution model during the pandemics, GitLab did it from 2014 without any modifications. Gitlab’s prospectus header states that “address is not applicable.”

According to the filing, “Operating remotely gives us access a global talent pool which allows us to hire talented staff members regardless of their geographical location. This provides us with a strong competitive edge.” GitLab employs 1,350 people in more than 65 countries.

GitLab was last valued at $6 billion in a secondary financing round that allowed existing shareholders to sell up to 20% of their vested equity. The valuation was $2.7B in late 2019, which is an improvement on the previous round’s $2.7B.

In its “team handbook” on its website, GitLab had openly stated its plan to go public by November of 2020. GitLab decided not to go public after last year’s pandemic, which ravaged the wider economy. It did however indicate that it was on its roadmap for a public listing.

The filing shows that Sid Sijbrandij (GitLab CEO and co-founder) is the biggest stakeholder of the company, holding 18.9% of Class B shares. Khosla Ventures holds 14%.

WATCH: GitLab CEO on the future of work

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