The first expected big tech IPO in 2017 just got canceled.
Just ahead of a planned IPO, AppDynamics is being acquired by tech giant Cisco in a deal announced Tuesday that is valued at some $3.7 billion.
The deal means AppDynamics won’t go public with a valuation of some $1 billion and 12 million shares expected to hit the market at between $12 and $14 each. It had just lifted the estimated stock target from $10.
“Applications have become the lifeblood of a company’s success,” said Cisco’s Rowan Trollope about acquiring the company and its cloud application and business monitoring platform. “The combination of Cisco and AppDynamics will allow us to provide end to end visibility and intelligence from the network through to the application.”
Why make the deal?
Here’s Cisco’s explanation for the deal, according to a blog post:
“Digitization and the transition to cloud are forcing the worlds of IT and business to blend together. In the digital economy, applications are critical. Combining real-time visibility and intelligence at the network, security and application layers is transformational for companies. It can provide them with insight into the state of their business and most importantly, into the quality of their customers’ experiences. To drive this transformation, we are excited to announce Cisco’s intent to acquire AppDynamics, Inc., a leading privately held application intelligence software platform!
“As companies across industries are expanding their digital infrastructure, IT departments are faced with vast amounts of complex, siloed data. AppDynamics helps many of the world’s largest enterprises translate this data into business insights and empowers them to drive value for their customers in today’s digital world.
“Together with Cisco’s industry leading digital network architecture, customers will now have unprecedented end to end insight across their technology stack, from infrastructure to application. With this insight, companies will be equipped to improve customer experiences and accelerate revenue opportunities. The acquisition of AppDynamics also supports Cisco’s strategic transition toward software-centric solutions that deliver predictable recurring revenue.”
Source: Cisco
As part of the deal, AppDynamics CEO David Wadhwani will join Cisco.
AppDynamics will be incorporated into Cisco as a business unit that reports to Trollope who overseets Internet of Things and applications.
Cisco operates one of its largest corporate campuses in RTP with some 5,000 employees and contractors.
