IPO Report: Ping IPO pops 34% in debut

It’s not the sexiest tech IPO in a year of A-list names, but shares of Ping Identity Holding Corp. are up sharply, pushing the software company past $1 billion in market value.

While highly-touted initial public offerings from Uber Technologies Inc. UBER, -3.61% and Lyft Inc. LYFT, -1.80% stalled out of the blocks, Ping’s stock PING, -3.98% surged 34% to $20.07 on its trading debut Thursday.

“We think of this as a starting point rather than the finish line,” Ping Chief Financial Officer Raj Dani told MarketWatch in a phone interview.

The stock of the Denver-based software company, which provides mission-critical identity security to some of the largest companies in the world including Thomson Reuters Corp. TRI, -1.18% and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, was priced at $15 late Wednesday. Ping sold 12.5 million shares in the IPO to raise $187.5 million.

With 77.6 million shares outstanding after the IPO, the pricing pegged Ping’s market valuation at $1.16 billion.

“Our customers call us a tier-zero solution because without us planes don’t fly and surgeries don’t happen,” Dani said, adding that Ping’s Fortune 100 clients include the 12 largest U.S. banks, five of the top seven retailers, and a major airline — none of whom he is contractually allowed to name. Ping has more than 25 customers with over $1 million in annual recurring revenue.

Ping announced its IPO plans last month. The 17-year-old company was sold to Vista Equity Partners in 2016 for $600 million. Vista is owned by billionaire Robert Smith.

Ping has gone public at a time the Renaissance IPO exchange-traded fund IPO, -1.28% has lost 5.6% over the past three months while the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.49% has gained 2.9%.