FireEye, a provider of cybersecurity software, priced its initial public offering on Thursday at $20 a share, handily beating expectations.
Earlier this week, the company raised its price range to $15 to $17 a share.
Taking advantage of strong demand, the company also increased the number of shares that it sold in the offering by 8 percent, to 15.18 million. Over all, the stock sale raised $303.6 million, valuing the software maker at $2.3 billion.
The nine-year-old start-up is one of the latest technology companies to seek a public listing, part of a revival in a largely dormant sector for I.P.O.’s. As of last week, tech companies accounted for just 17 percent of all new offerings, the lowest percentage of all initial stock sales since 2008.
But analysts and bankers say that investors remain hungry for promising new I.P.O.’s. Earlier on Thursday, the advertising technology company Rocket Fuel priced its stock sale at the high end of an already raised range, collecting $116 million in proceeds.
FireEye is betting that its business â€" an advanced software package that protects against malicious programs â€" will prove attractive to new investors. Among its current backers are Sequoia Capital and Norwest Venture Partners.
The company reported a $35.8 million loss last year, more than double from the prior year. But its revenue jumped 147 percent, to $83.3 million.
FireEye plans to use proceeds from the sale to hire more employees and expand its business.
The offering was led by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Barclays.
