Profits reported by Bitdefender, the leading Romanian IT security company, for the year 2024.
Romania's leading IT security solutions provider, Bitdefender, is gearing up for its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the American stock market in June 2026. The cybersecurity giant, which was initially targeting June 2025, decided to postpone the date to align with more favourable conditions in the U.S. market.
According to investment platform AInvest, this upcoming IPO could potentially make Bitdefender the second Romanian-founded IT unicorn to go public in the U.S., following UiPath. The IPO could value Bitdefender at over $2.2 billion, making it a significant player in the cybersecurity market.
Documents reveal that Bitdefender's preferred shares, accounting for 28.3% of the total shares, are currently valued at approximately $666 million. Extrapolating from this, the total valuation of Bitdefender is expected to exceed $2.2 billion at the time of the IPO.
Top management could stand to gain more than $50 million from stock options if the IPO meets the target share price of about $10.40 per share, with over 221 million shares outstanding. This pricing also aligns with the overall valuation of over $2.2 billion for the company.
In 2024, Bitdefender reported a net profit of RON 239.6 million (EUR 47.3 million), a significant improvement from a loss of RON 122.7 million (EUR 24.2 million) in the previous year. The positive result was achieved despite a 44.4% increase in liabilities to RON 300.1 million (EUR 59.2 million) and a 24.9% advance in receivables to RON 347.9 million (EUR 68.6 million) in the same year.
Bitdefender's revenues for 2024 reached RON 1.67 billion (EUR 330 million), marking a 62.6% increase from 2023. The company's workforce also expanded, with the average number of employees rising by 7.3%, from 1,538 to 1,650 in 2024.
Notably, Vitruvian Partners acquired 30% of Bitdefender's shares from Axxess Capital in 2017. However, the IPO, which was initially planned for a valuation fit for unicorn status, was put on hold due to increased pessimism on the market.
JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley were hired as consultants for the potential IPO. As of 2024, no IPO has been conducted by Bitdefender. This news underscores the scale of Bitdefender's upcoming IPO and its significant valuation potential in the cybersecurity market.
[1] Source: Company documents and industry analysis.
Investing in the forthcoming Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Bitdefender could potentially provide a lucrative opportunity for technology-focused investors, as the cybersecurity company is predicted to become the second Romanian-founded IT unicorn to go public in the U.S. Moreover, the IPO could value Bitdefender at over $2.2 billion, making it a significant player in the global cybersecurity market, with top management standing to gain over $50 million from stock options if the target share price is reached.
