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Blackstone-Backed Carbon Black Said to Hire Banks for IPO

Blackstone-Backed Carbon Black Said to Hire Banks for IPO

Carbon Black Inc., the cybersecurity company backed by Sequoia Capital and Blackstone Group LP, hired banks to help it go public, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. will lead the initial public offering, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. An IPO could come as soon as this year, one of the people said.

So far this year, only one venture capital-backed technology company has listed its shares. Acacia Communications Inc., the maker of equipment and software for communications networks backed by Matrix Partners, Commonwealth Capital Ventures and Summit Partners, raised $119 million in May, including an overallotment to underwriters.

Twilio Inc., the maker of mobile apps backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, set terms this week and is scheduled to price its IPO on June 22, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Twilio is seeking to raise as much as $140 million.

Bain Capital-backed cyberdefense technology company Blue Coat Systems Inc., which filed to go public on June 2, scrapped its IPO plans, instead opting to be acquired by Symantec Corp. for $4.65 billion.

Carbon Black, formerly known as Bit9, raised $54.5 million in a series F private funding round in October. Investors included venture firms Accomplice, Founders Circle, Highland Capital Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, according to a statement at the time.

The Waltham, Massachusetts-based company posted more than $70 million in revenue last year, the statement shows. Carbon Black has more than 2,000 customers, it said this month. In February, it announced a partnership with International Business Machines Corp. to provide cyberdefense to businesses.

Representatives for Carbon Black, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

To contact the reporters on this story: Alex Barinka in New York at abarinka2@bloomberg.net, Alistair Barr in San Francisco at abarr18@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wollman, Molly Schuetz