In 2024, I had all sorts of funky metaphors for the stagnant IPO market, from “bathtub that wasn’t draining” to a tangled garden hose. 

At a stalled time for IPOs, most of my metaphors were bleak. But one wasn’t—it came as I wrote about cybersecurity company Rubrik, which went public in April. Watching Rubrik CEO and cofounder Bipul Sinha, his family, investors, and colleagues on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, it occurred to me that an IPO is like a wedding. It’s both a celebrated endpoint, and the first day of the rest of your life. 

The metaphor has aged rather nicely. Talking to Sinha in December, we touched on the “rites of passage” in his first eight months as the CEO of a public company, like his first-ever earnings call. Generally, these analyst calls are very controlled affairs, scripted as much as possible. It was a reality that bumped up against Sinha’s instincts. He’s not a canned statement kind-of-guy and is much more at ease just…talking. 

“I’m more of an intuition person,” he told Fortune. “So, when I’m talking to you, I’m not coming up with a prepared statement…We are talking and I’m thinking, and I’m going to give you a response in real-time.”

It seems obvious enough, but an in-the-moment communication style can easily bump up against the set-in-stone expectations Sinha now has to meet as a public company CEO. Startup founders who go public are rare, and even rarer is a founder who holds on to become the CEO of a listed company—and those who make it adapt exquisitely. A question Sinha’s been asking himself: “How do you create a balance between what people are looking for as an answer, and what you want to express as the leader of this newly-minted public company?”

He may still be figuring out how to balance his instincts with his new reality, but things seem to be going well. Since April, Rubrik’s shares are up about 75%, as of market close yesterday. Rubrik’s success is coming at an intense, busy time in cybersecurity, one in which the general public is perhaps more aware than ever of the sector. In part, that’s a byproduct of high-profile 2024 events, like CrowdStrike’s seismic IT outage, which Sinha says demonstrated the fragility of the digital economy. Lots of damage can be done in a world that’s rapidly becoming more connected, Sinha said. 

“It’s kind of like driving a fast car,” he said. “When you have a fast car, you better make sure that you have good brakes.”

And cybersecurity, ultimately, comprises those brakes. It’s a sector that in recent years has garnered lots of attention from investors, as well as from acquirers. (Sinha isn’t looking at mega-deals at the unicorn level, but tells Fortune he’s in the market for tuck-in deals.) As 2025 gets rolling, Sinha is very optimistic about M&A, even beyond cybersecurity. 

“The market is in a very good place with M&A, because a number of companies have gotten some scale, but they haven’t gotten to the scale velocity of being a public company,” said Sinha. “If you look at the number of unicorns, there are 1,400, 1,500 unicorns out there. In a good year, 30, 40, 50 companies go public. So, not all of them can go public…As it’s dawning on the founders and investors of these businesses that they’re not going to grow into a public company, there will be lots of opportunities to do acquisitions.”

The idea that reality is encroaching on dreams also comes up again in Sinha’s view of the IPO, the dream exit for many founders and investors. His take: The IPO market has been open since the back half of last year. There’s just one caveat: It’s a pragmatic and discerning IPO market, where companies need to be able to sell expectations that undeniably align with reality.

“The issue is that people have to accept reality,” said Sinha. “In 2021, lots of people had very high valuations, and they’re not accepting the reality that those days are gone.”

Or, put another way: “The IPO market has gone from being California to being Missouri,” said Sinha. “It used to be ‘tell me what you do.’ Now, it’s ‘show me what you got.'”‘tell me what you do.’ Now, it’s ‘show me what you got.'”

And that’s probably its own rite of passage—no more metaphors or ideas, just results. In the end, that’s what going public (and staying public) is really about.

ICYMI…Intel Capital, one of the most active, longstanding CVCs, is spinning off from its embattled chipmaking parent. In the second half of this year, the firm will become independent and get a new name. Any suggestions? Naming things is hard, let’s help ‘em out!

See you tomorrow,

Allie Garfinkle
Twitter: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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VENTURE DEALS

- Colossal Biosciences, a Dallas-based de-extinction company, raised $200 million in Series C funding from TWG Global.

- Loft Orbital, a San Francisco-based space infrastructure and satellite platform developer, raised $170 million in Series C funding. Tikehau Capital and Axial Partners led the round and were joined by Bpifrance, Foundation Capital, Temasek, and Uncork Capital.

- Harbinger, a Garden Grove, Calif.-based electric vehicle company, raised $100 million in Series B funding. Capricorn and Leitmotif led the round and were joined by Tiger Global and existing investors ArcTern Ventures, Ridgeline, Maniv Mobility, and others.

- Amogy, a Brooklyn-based ammonia-fueled power generator, raised $56 million in funding. Aramco Ventures and SV Investment led the round and were joined by Samsung Heavy Industries, BHP Ventures, Hanwha Investment & Securities, existing investors Temasek, MOL Switch, Yanmar Ventures, and others.

- Bioptimus, a Paris-based AI foundation model developer, raised $41 million in funding. Cathay Innovation led the round and was joined by Sofinnova Partners, Bpifrance, Andera Partners, angel investors, and others.

- Orchid Security, a New York City-based identity security company, raised $36 million in seed funding. Team8 and Intel Capital led the round and were joined by CapitalOne, Jeff Williams, Dror Davidoff, and Zohar Alo.

- SEEQC, a Elmsford, N.Y.-based digital chips developer for quantum computing systems, raised $30 million in funding. NordicNinja and Booz Allen Ventures led the round and were joined by SIP Capital and existing investors EQT Ventures, M-Ventures, BlueYard Capital, and others.

- Vividly, a San Francisco-based trade promotion management platform for consumer packaged goods brands, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Centana Growth Partners led the round and was joined by existing investors.

- Maki, a Paris-based talent acquisition conversational AI agent, raised $28.6 million in Series A funding. Blossom Capital led the round and was joined by DST Global and existing investors Frst, GFC, and Picus Capital. 

- Robeauté, a Paris-based neurosurgical microbots developer, raised $28 million in funding. Plural, Cherry Ventures, and Kindred Ventures led the round and were joined by Brainlab. 

- Conceivable Life Sciences, a New York City-based automated IVF lab developer, raised $18 million in Series A funding. ARTIS Ventures led the round and was joined by Atlantic Health Venture Studio, Muse Capital, Scrub Capital, existing investors ACME Capital, Black Opal Ventures, Cadence Healthcare Ventures, and others.

- The Snow League, a New York City-based professional snowboarding and freeskiing league, raised $15 million in funding. Left Lane Capital led the round and was joined by Boardroom Sports Holdings, Peter Hirschmann, Kuvare Holdings, and existing investors Will Ventures, Ares Management, Bolt Ventures, and Ryan Sports Ventures.

- Boardy, a New York City-based AI connections and networking agent, raised $8 million in seed funding. Creandum led the round and was joined by Andy Dun, Leah Busque, Sabrina Hahn, Andrew Yeung, and others.

- Vasco, a Montreal-based revenue architecture strategies platform, raised $8 million in seed funding. Inovia Capital led the round and was joined by BY Venture Partners, FRAMEWORK Venture Partners, and angel investors.

- Skor Technologies, a Jakarta, Indonesia-based parent company of fintech platforms Skorcard and Skorlife, raised $6.2 million in pre-Series A funding. Argor Capital led the round and was joined by the Digital Currency Group and existing investors QED Investors and Saison Capital.

- Daash Intelligence, a San Francisco-based commerce intelligence predictive AI platform for retail brands, raised $5.5 million in seed funding. Bullpen Capital led the round and was joined by GFT Ventures and existing investors Silicon Road Ventures and Red Bike Capital.

- Bythen, a Jakarta, Indonesia-based digital characters creation platform, raised $5 million in seed funding. Vector and Skystar Capital led the round and was joined by East Ventures, BEENEXT, OSK, AppWorks, and angel investors.

- Thoras.ai, a Washington, D.C.-based data observability platform, raised $5 million in seed funding. Wellington Ventures led the round and was joined by Sinewave Ventures, Focal Ventures, Storytime Capital, and others.

- LetsData, a Dover, Del.-based disinformation and synthetic identities security radar for governments and corporations, raised $1.6 million in pre-seed funding from SMOK Ventures, Wayra, Tilia Impact Ventures, angel investors, and others.

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PRIVATE EQUITY

- Rubicon Founders invested $165 million in Caidya, a Raleigh, N.C.-based clinical research organization.

- Agiloft, backed by KKR, FTV Capital, and JMI Equity, acquired Screens, a Centennial, Colo.-based AI-powered contract review platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Arbiter, backed by Serent Capital, acquired rSchoolToday, a Minneapolis-based K-12 athletics and activities software solutions provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Ardian acquired a minority stake in Sicer, a Fiorano Modenese, Italy-based ceramic coatings developer. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Braemont Capital acquired a majority stake in TEC Services, a Columbia, Md.-based janitorial and sanitation services provider for the grocery and food distribution industries. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Capitol Imaging Services, a portfolio company of Clearview Capital, acquired Houston MRI, a Houston-based diagnostic imaging services provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- ClearView Healthcare Partners, backed by GHO Capital, acquired a minority stake in Epistemic AI, a Westport, Conn.-based biomedical research AI intelligence platform, for $4 million.

- Crimson Phoenix, backed by Godspeed Capital, acquired Blackspoke, an Arlington, Va.-based geospatial and data solutions provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Cuadrilla Capital acquired Repsly, a Boston-based retail execution software provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Gryphon Investors acquired a majority stake in Spindrift, a Newton, Mass.-based flavored sparkling water brand. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Headwall Group, a portfolio company of Arsenal Capital Partners, acquired EVK, a Graz, Austria-based sorting and inspection sensor-based technology developer for the industrial sector. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Imperial Dade, backed by Advent International, acquired S. Freedman & Sons, a Landover, Md.-based paper products, packaging supplies, and cleaning supplies distributor. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- New Mountain Capital acquired a majority stake in Access Healthcare, a Dallas-based revenue cycle management platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- New Mountain Capital acquired a majority stake in Union Healthcare Insight, a Washington, D.C.-based healthcare research insights provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Progress Equity Partners recapitalized ProSet Modular, a Montrose, Colo.-based set services provider for permanent modular construction companies. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Xceed Foodservice Group, a portfolio company of SF Equity Partners, acquired a majority stake in the foodservice brokerage business of Total Source, a Phoenix-based foodservice manufacturing, distribution, and operation services provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

OTHER

- United Rentals agreed to acquire H&E Equipment Services, a Baton Rouge-based equipment rental company, for an enterprise value of approximately $4.8 billion.

- Wabtec agreed to acquire the inspection technologies division of Evident, a Tokyo-based life science and industrial products developer, for $1.8 billion.

- The International Finance Corporation invested $20 million in Zepz, a London-based global payments group.

- dbt Labs acquired SDF Labs, a Seattle-based data transformation platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Kudu Investment Management acquired a passive, minority stake in Homestead Capital, a San Francisco-based farmland investor. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Prove acquired Portabl, a Philadelphia-based digital identity technology company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

SPAC

- Blaize, an El Dorado Hills, Calif.-based AI-powered computing solutions provider, went public on the Nasdaq via a merger with BurTech Acquisition Corp., a SPAC, at a market cap of approximately $1.2 billion.

PEOPLE

- Blue Wolf Capital Partners, a New York City-based private equity firm, promoted Eve Mongiardo, Shashank Patel, and Rick Winegar to partner; Jared Isenstein to principal; Blake Montag to director of portfolio analytics; and Trent Holbrook to vice president.

- First Reserve, a Stamford, Conn.-based private equity firm, promoted Yuri Larrabee to managing director and Wes Fischer and Jonathan Lee to director.

- Harvest Partners, a New York City-based private equity firm, promoted Devin Graber, Kevin Haack, John Josif, Chris Larsen, and Michael Volpert to principal and James Harter, Benjamin Humphrey, Abigail Kacergis, Michael Kim, Samuel Ludin, and Alex Tofel to vice president.

- IVP, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture capital firm, added Kevin Egan as a venture partner, according to Business Insider. Previously, he was at Atlassian.

- Stellex Capital Management, a New York City-based private equity firm, added Jennifer Colvin as a director and Scott Kingsley as a vice president. Previously, Colvin was at Perkins Cole and Kingsley was at Highview Capital.

- Zetta Venture Partners, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, promoted Dylan Reid to managing director and added Annelise Gamble as partner. Previously, Gamble founded and was with Prima.

- Stonepeak, a New York City-based investment firm, added Eanna Murphy as an operating partner. Previously, he was at Yondr Group.

- Zetta Venture Partners, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, promoted Dylan Reid to managing director and added Annelise Gamble as partner. Previously, Gamble founded and was at Prima.