It was back in May that FireEye originally filed its intention to raise $175 million under the ticker FEYE. On Tuesday this week the company filed a new prospectus with the SEC that, says the San Jose Mercury News, raised "the possible price of its first shares from a range of $12 to $14 to $15 to $17 and increased the number of shares it expects to sell from 14 million to 16.1 million."
But in the event, reports Investors.com, "FireEye sold its shares at $20 each, above the expected $17-$19 range. The security software maker sold 15.18 million shares, 8% more than it had planned. The company raised $303 million, valuing the company at just over $2 billion."
Demonstrating the increased confidence, FireEye issued a statement yesterday saying it had also "granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2,275,000 shares of common stock to cover over-allotments, if any. The shares are expected to begin trading on The NASDAQ Global Select Market on September 20, 2013 under the symbol 'FEYE.'"
FireEye is one of the newer breed of security firms that aims to stop security incidents that get through the traditional barrier defense of firewall and anti-virus technologies. Its technology allows inbound suspicious files to run in a virtual sandbox so that they can safely be inspected for malicious behavior.
The company was founded in 2004 by Ashar Aziz, formerly with Sun Microsystems. Aziz is currently vice chairman, CTO and chief strategy officer. Chairman and CEO of the company is David DeWalt who joined the firm as CEO in November 2012. DeWalt had previously served as president, chief executive officer, and director of McAfee before it was acquired by Intel for $7.7 billion in 2011.
FireEye's revenue increased 147% to $83.3 million last year, but its losses also widened to $35.8 million. Reuters notes that DeWalt "told Reuters in November he intended to focus on growth over profitability, and hire sales and marketing staff around the globe to drive that expansion."