Big news from India: computer security software Quick Heal announces IPO

Computer security software-maker Quick Heal Technologies announced its initial public offering (IPO) today, meaning it will sell shares of its company publicly on the Indian stock market. The issue will open on 8 February and close on 10 February. The price band will be from US$4.59 to US$4.73.

IPOs are a rarity in India. Last year, there were a total of 57 IPOs of which none were tech companies. Although many tech startups companies in India have been drawing hyper valuations – Flipkart, for example, was pegged at US$15.2 billion in September last year – there have been few large-scale tech IPOs in the country. Quick Heal’s IPO may be the first in a trend of tech startups going public.

Quick Heal provides cloud-based security technologies and machine learning software to identify and stop threats before they attack.

Started by Kailash Katkar and his brother Sanjay in 1993, Quick Heal received a single round of funding of US$13 million in August 2010 from Sequoia Capital. Until then, the startup was entirely bootstrapped. Not long ago, the founders worked out of a single room in Pune, taking loans to grow their business.

Converted from Indian Rupees. Rate: US$1 = INR67.83.

See: From computer repair to IPO: The untold story of two of India’s smartest multimillionaires