估值37.5亿美元，看看这头独角兽的秘密账本|《财富》独家

身处行业寒冬，多家业内公司选择主动公布财务数据展示实力，想从表现低迷的同行之中脱颖而出。信息技术与网络网络安全业务公司Tanium最近也公布了数据。风险资本数据库Pitchbook显示，私人投资者对Tanium最新估值为37.5亿美元。

Tanium首席执行官兼联合创始人奥利恩•辛达维向《财富》杂志独家透露了财务数据。他说：“总有客户要求我们解释为什么三年、五年和十年内如何发展更大更好。他们想先确认这项技术能持续存在，否则不愿投资并应用。”

辛达维分享了一些具体的数据，以显示Tanium的实力和苦苦挣扎的同行不一样。他告诉《财富》，公司上一个财年“营业收入远超2亿美元”，同比增长70%。

他补充说，去年Tanium经常性收入增长80%以上，达到2.3亿美元左右。

辛达维还称：“营运现金流方面有大量现金流入。”目前现金流规模超过2000万美元，比上年同期约增加了四倍。

由于现金流较大，Tanium持有现金也大量增加。辛达维此前接受采访时透露，截至去年年末，公司的现金及现金等价物突破了3亿美元。这一数据可能让潜在投资者满意，因为流动性没有迫切需求，但可能继续募集几轮私人投资，给员工兑现持股的选择。

辛达维说，Tanium去年第四季度已实现盈利，不过仍在积极投资开拓业务。“我预计未来会保持盈利。”

“投资者已经厌烦投资不可能赚钱的企业，”辛达维称，“抢椅子游戏的音乐一结束，很多公司就玩不下去了。”

辛达维常提到客户留存率。他说，去年平均来看，Tanium几乎没有客户流失，客户留存率几近100%。

他接着说，“客户续签率达到150%”，这意味着“假设去年一位客户在我们身上花了一美元，明年他会花1.5美元。”具体到Tanium公司，高续签率通常表现为，客户购买了Tanium的核心产品后追加购买一些高价的“模块”或者功能，方便工程师管理IT基础设施。

辛达维最后谈到之前想让公司公开上市的愿望。他向《财富》表示：“在公司发展计划里，这仍是选择之一。”他还说，仍然在衡量上市的利弊。

“首次公开募股（IPO）是获得流动性的一种方法，本质上就是流动性，”辛达维说，“我们都把上市神化了，变成了无比重要的大事。”

但去公开市场挂牌并不是辛达维眼下当务之急。

他说：“我才不会把80%的时间花在应付银行家上。”（财富中文网）

译者：Charlie

审校:夏林

Amid the chill, a number of companies have taken it upon themselves to release financial information in a show of strength and defiance—an attempt at separating themselves from the pack. Tanium, an IT operations and cybersecurity firm that was last valued at $3.75 billion by private investors, according to venture capital database firm Pitchbook, is the latest to do so.

Orion Hindawi, Tanium’s CEO and cofounder, offered Fortune an exclusive peek at the company’s books. “A common theme we’re hearing over and over again with customers is to explain why we’ll be bigger and better in three years, in five years, in 10 years,” Hindawi said. “They don’t want to make an investment in a technology and deploy it unless they know there’s longevity to it.”

Hindawi shared these details in an effort to showcase Tanium’s health in contrast to struggling peers. The company made “well over $200 million in revenue” over the course of its last fiscal year, Hindawi told Fortune, growing 70% over the year prior.

Tanium’s annual recurring revenue grew more than 80% to approximately $230 million in the past year, he added.

“Our operating cash flow is substantially positive,” Hindawi said. The company has more than $20 million in free cash flow, he continued, a figure that is about four times greater than it was in the year prior.

That influx has contributed to year-end cash and equivalents in excess of $300 million—a figure Hindawi has mentioned in previous interviews. The number may assuage prospective investors that the company has no dire need for liquidity, though it may continue pursue additional private investment rounds as an option enabling employees to cash out of their holdings.

Tanium was profitable in the fourth quarter of last year, Hindawi said, despite continued, aggressive investment in expansion: “I do expect to maintain that profitability moving forward.”

“Investors are sick of funding companies that have no possibility of ever making money,” Hindawi said. “When the musical chairs stop, a lot of companies cannot continue to operate as they were.”

One stat that the CEO lingered on involved customer retention. On average last year Tanium retained almost all of its customers—a hair under 100%, Hindawi said.

“We had a 150% renewal rate,” Hindawi added, meaning that “if a customer spent a dollar with us last year, then they spent $1.50 with us next year.” In Tanium’s case, this often takes the form of customers buying additional, premium “modules,” or capabilities, to supplement its core product, which helps techies manage IT infrastructure.

Hindawi has spoken about his desire eventually to take his company public before. “It’s one of the obvious options for a go-forward plan for the company,” he told Fortune, adding that he is continuing to consider the benefits and cons.

“An IPO is one way to achieve liquidity and that’s really all it is,” he said. “We mythologize this thing into an unbelievably important event.”

But the public markets are not Hindawi’s top priority at the moment.

Says the CEO: “I don’t spend 80% of my time with bankers.”