Genesys confidentially files for US IPO as AI boom drives demand
Investor demand for IPO could be 'litmus test' for AI appetite -analyst
Company notched a valuation of $21 billion in 2021 fundraise
Backers include PE giants Permira, Hellman & Friedman
Adds analyst comment in paragraphs 9-10, 14, details on company in paragraphs 7, 12
By Manya Saini and Niket Nishant
Oct 21 (Reuters) -Genesys said on Monday it has confidentially filed for an initial public offering in the United States, becoming the latest tech firm to bet on the booming AI market to attract investors.
The move comes as the IPO market recovers with investors once again turning warmer towards tech startups that they had shunned for over two years due to concerns around lofty valuations.
Genesys, an AI-driven developer of call center software, did not reveal any details about its IPO or a timeline for going public, but a September report from Bloomberg News citing sources said the company could raise as much as $2 billion in the offering.
In December 2021, Genesys raised $580 million in a funding round led by Salesforce Ventures, valuing it at $21 billion. Other investors in the round had included Zoom Video Communications ZM.O, D1 Capital Partners and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock BLK.N.
Genesys was acquired by private equity firm Permira Holdings from Alcatel-Lucent in 2012, valuing the company then at about $1.5 billion. Hellman & Friedman invested about $900 million in the company in 2016 for an equity stake.
The company's cloud platform fetched over $1.6 billion in revenue in the second quarter of its fiscal year 2025, more than 35% higher than last year driven by AI demand, it said in September.
Genesys added that accelerated customer adoption of standalone AI products contributed to more than 10% of the bookings of its cloud business during the first half of the fiscal year.
AI PLAY
Analysts expect companies catering to the artificial intelligence market to lead the charge for tech sector listings, amid heightened expectations of multi-fold growth over the next few years as corporates increasingly find more generative AI use cases.
"While there's always a risk of a down-round IPO, companies that have leveraged AI effectively, as Genesys has done, might have a chance to exceed or at least match their previous valuation," said Joe Endoso, CEO of private investment platform Linqto.
"The fact that they filed confidentially might also suggest they're testing the waters to gauge investor appetite, making this a litmus test for broader market sentiment toward AI-driven businesses and the tech sector as a whole."
Genesys operates in over 100 countries with more than 6,000 employees, according to its website. Its partners include tech giants Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft MSFT.O and Adobe ADBE.O.
Its customers span across the technology, retail and industrial sector, and include British airlines Virgin Atlantic, India's Axis Bank AXBK.NS and consumer electronics giant Lenovo 0992.HK.
Cerebras Systems, a startup competing with industry leader Nvidia NVDA.O for a slice of the lucrative AI chip market, also filed for a U.S. IPO late last month.
"If these listings perform well, it would signal that the market has a strong appetite for AI-driven growth, encouraging other companies in the sector to accelerate their plans for going public," Endoso added.
Reporting by Manya Saini and Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
