Mimecast CEO insists IPO is 'about the journey' as share offering raises $77.5m

'The time was right,' Mimecast CEO Bauer tells Computing

Email security company Mimecast launched its initial public offering (IPO) yesterday to relatively muted applause, raising $10 per share and a total of $77.5m in funding.

Mimecast had been hoping to raise as much as $12 per share, but speaking to Computing last night, shortly after the IPO launched, co-founder and CEO Peter Bauer insisted that he is "excited" with the results, and that the company's move to IPO was "about the journey" not the initial pricing.

"We're a 12-year-old company with a solid business model and history of performance that is ready to be a public company" Bauer told Computing. "Being a public company gives us a stage to support our future success. So we felt the time was right for us."

Computing asked Bauer directly whether he was personally satisfied with the company's public funding. "Yes. We're excited to have achieved that today," he replied.

He continued: "Ultimately it's not about today's pricing or performance, it's about the journey. Tomorrow, we go back to focusing on what's important to us: making email safer for business. We built this business for the long term; we're taking a long-term view as a public company, too."

Mimecast begins trading on Nasdaq today, its initial total value standing at $540m.

The company's last fiscal year, ending in March 2015, reported revenue of $116m, an increase of 31 per cent compared to fiscal 2014. It made a profit of only $285,000, however.

Yesterday also saw the the IPOs of Match, the parent company of the dating site Match.com and the mobile app Tinder, as well as mobile payment company Square.

Square started off selling shares for $9-a-piece yesterday, having climbed to $13.07 when the market closed. It raised $243m in total. Match, meanwhile, raised $400m, though its $12 shares, like Mimecast's, lay at the low end of the market.

Box, Alibaba and GoPro have all struggled in recent IPOs, raising ongoing questions as to whether IPO is a good choice for young technology companies, especially as the market for private investment still seems buoyant in Silicon Valley.