Clearwater Analytics valued at over $5bn after stellar NYSE debut

NEW YORK: Clearwater Analytics Holdings Inc was valued at about $5.5 billion after a blockbuster stock market debut on Friday, in which its shares jumped over 30%, capping a successful week for initial public offerings of tech unicorns.

Shares of the financial services software company, which is backed by buyout firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, opened at $23.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, compared with an IPO price of $18 per share. Clearwater's stock market flotation is the latest in a series of tech IPOs over the past 18 months during which investors have doubled down, leading to an unprecedented tech boom. Remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic also boosted demand for software offerings and other cloud-based services.

The company's debut comes on the heels of strong ones such as those of restaurant software provider Toast Inc, enterprise software firm Freshworks Inc and remittance processor Remitly Global Inc.

Clearwater makes software that helps enterprises manage their investment portfolios. It has over 1,000 clients, including Cisco Systems, Facebook Inc and Oracle Corp, a recent regulatory filing showed.

It charges clients fees based on the amount of assets they manage on Clearwater's platform, majority of which are high-grade fixed income assets, the filing showed.

"I think we're in a position now to push hard on accelerating our growth, and we think M&A could be a part of that," Chief Executive Officer Sandeep Sahai told Reuters.

Last year, Reuters reported that Clearwater, which counts private equity firms Permira and Warburg Pincus among its investors, was exploring strategic options, besides an IPO, including the sale of the company.

Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley were the lead bookrunners for the offering.