Netskope leaps into a hot IPO market, and the cybersecurity stock jumps 18% in its debut

By Mike Murphy and Steve Gelsi

Netskope's shares started trading Thursday.

Artificial-intelligence cybersecurity company Netskope Inc.'s initial public offering was followed by a double-digit percentage gain its its trading debut on Thursday, as the market for new issues continues to crank out fresh deals amid all-time stock-market highs.

Netskope's (NTSK) IPO closed Thursday at $22.49 a share, up 18.4%, after an intraday peak of $24.40.

Signs of a strong trading debut came Wednesday when Netskope priced its IPO at $19 a share, at the top of its $17 to $19 range, after it previously bumped up its estimated price from $15 to $17 a share.

With 47.8 million shares in the IPO, Netskope raised $908 million with the help of lead underwriters Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan.

The company's total stock-market value at a price of $19 a share was about $7.4 billion based on 389.24 million shares outstanding, including stock allocated to the bankers.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Netskope specializes in cybersecurity for the cloud and artificial intelligence. Netskope reported annual recurring revenue of $707 million as of July 31, up 33% from the previous year. For the six months ended July 31, it narrowed its net loss to $170 million from a year-prior loss of $207 million. Revenue for the six months ended July 31 rose 31%, to $328 million.

Will Griffith, a partner at Iconiq, the investment firm that has backed Netskope for a decade, said the company stands out for its management team's ability to adapt to the security challenges posed by artificial intelligence.

"Their decades of security and networking experience allowed them to recognize early signs that legacy approaches might no longer suffice, pointing to the need for a radically new approach built for scale, speed and continuous innovation," Griffith said in a blog post.

Netskope's co-founder and chief executive, Sanjay Beri, previously worked at Juniper Networks Inc. from 2004 to 2012. In 1999, he co-founded Ingrian Networks Inc., a data-protection company that was acquired by SafeNet Inc.

After a few slow years marred by the pandemic, high inflation and high interest rates, the IPO market has rebounded strongly as of late.

Online ticket reseller StubHub Inc. (STUB) was the most recent to go public, though its stock fell 6% in its trading debut Wednesday after a 10% initial jump.

Last week was the busiest for IPOs since 2021 - with Klarna Group Plc (KLAR), Figure Technology Solutions Inc. (FIGR), Legence Corp. (LGN), Gemini Space Station Inc. (GEMI), Black Rock Coffee Bar Inc. (BRCB) and Via Transportation Inc. (VIA) all going public. That followed IPOs earlier this year from companies such as eToro Group Ltd. (ETOR), Circle Internet Group Inc. (CRCL) and Figma Inc. (FIG)

The Renaissance IPO ETF IPO - a widely used benchmark for the IPO market - is up about 25% this year, outpacing the Nasdaq's COMP more than 16% gain.

-Mike Murphy -Steve Gelsi

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09-18-25 2002ET