The Boston area’s second tech IPO of 2017 is in the books.
Casa Systems raised $78 million in its initial public offering by selling 6 million shares of common stock for $13 per share. The Andover, MA-based network infrastructure company has granted its IPO underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to 900,000 additional shares at that price, minus underwriting discounts and commissions.
Casa stock (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CASA]]) began trading on Friday, and it ended the day at $14.40 per share. As of this writing, it’s valued at almost $1.2 billion. [Added updated stock price and valuation.—Eds.]
Casa’s IPO stock price was below its previously stated target range of $15 to $17 per share. The company also ended up selling fewer shares through the IPO—it previously disclosed plans to offer 8.4 million shares.
Tech IPOs have been sparse across the U.S. during the past three years, and Boston is no different. CarGurus is the only other Boston-area tech company to join the public markets this year. There were two local tech IPOs last year and just one in 2015. By comparison, there were five in 2014.
Cambridge, MA-based CarGurus, which had its $150 million IPO in October, runs an online marketplace for buying and selling cars. Its solid performance as a public company bucks the criticism that Boston doesn’t do consumer tech well.
Casa, meanwhile, is more of a classic Boston enterprise tech business. Founded in 2003, Casa sells software and equipment meant to help cable providers and other network operators boost network speeds.
The company raised at least $100 million in venture funding, according to SEC filings. Its backers include Summit Partners and Liberty Global Ventures.
Casa generated $316.1 million in revenue in 2016, up from $272.4 million in 2015 and $211.3 million in 2014, according to an SEC filing. It turned an $88.7 million profit last year, up from $67.9 million the previous year. Sales through the first nine months of 2017 were $233.6 million.
Casa is led by its founder and CEO, Jerry Guo, who previously was vice president of broadband at River Delta Networks, which was acquired by Motorola in 2001. Before that, Guo was a research scientist at Bell Laboratories.
