Zscaler confidentially filed for security IPO

Zscaler, a nine-year-old, San Jose, Calif.-based company, has filed confidentially for IPO, multiple sources tell TechCrunch. The cloud security outfit is aiming to go public before the end of the year.

Zscaler works with companies like United Airlines and NBC to protect from threats across all devices. “Zscaler built its multi-tenant platform from scratch to provide 100% cloud security to every user in the enterprise, on any device, using any app, all over the world,” says the company website.

Zscaler has reached “unicorn” status, having raised capital at a $1 billion valuation in the past. Investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Alphabet’s Capital G and TPG Growth.

Earlier this year, Reuters reported that Zscaler had been meeting with investment bankers to prepare for a possible offering. Bloomberg reported that Zscaler wound up picking Morgan Stanley to manage the IPO.

Zscaler has been involved in multiple patent lawsuits with Symantec. A recent ongoing suit  “asserts that Zscaler has been illegally using Symantec’s patented technology relating to a variety of network security technologies, including web security, security scanning, data loss prevention, intrusion prevention and intrusion signature analysis.”

Zscaler competes with Blue Coat, which was acquired by Symantec. It also competes with Cisco’s Umbrella division.

Another security company, ForeScout Technologies, is planning to price its IPO later today. We broke the news of its IPO filing earlier this year.

Zscaler declined to comment on this story.