SymphonyAI Gears Up for Public Listing in 2024, Says CEO Sanjay Dhawan

SymphonyAI, a U.S.-based artificial intelligence company renowned for its applications in fincrime and fraud detection, is preparing for a public listing in the second half of next year, according to its chief executive. In an interview, CEO Sanjay Dhawan revealed that the firm is currently in discussions with banks but opted not to disclose specific details or the stages of their preparations.

The decision to go public follows SymphonyAI's impressive achievement of a $500 million revenue run rate last year and its transition to profitability, bolstered by a robust 25% revenue growth rate, Dhawan noted.

Founded seven years ago by tech billionaire Romesh Wadhwani, SymphonyAI views a public listing as a means to provide liquidity for its executives and employees while gaining additional capital for potential mergers and acquisitions. "Going public is one milestone in a journey. Once we identify a use case that we can disrupt with AI, we use M&A as a mechanism to add a volume of customers, which we can transform with AI," Dhawan explained.

The U.S. IPO market has shown signs of recovery this year, with 86 IPOs raising $17.8 billion in the first six months, based on data from EY. In a related development, KKR-backed enterprise finance platform OneStream announced plans on Monday to raise $465.5 million in an IPO later this month, which could offer insights into how the market values software companies.

Dhawan, who previously led the publicly traded automotive AI firm Cerence, assured that SymphonyAI is already meeting public company compliance standards, employing KPMG as auditors and maintaining an independent board. Nevertheless, he acknowledged that the timing of the listing could still fluctuate based on business and market conditions.

Wadhwani, who has invested $600 million into SymphonyAI and serves as the company's chairman, remains its largest shareholder. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, SymphonyAI caters to over 2,000 customers, including major names like PepsiCo and Citadel. While predictive AI is central to its offerings, the company has recently incorporated generative AI features.

With a workforce of over 3,000 employees spread across 30 countries, SymphonyAI competes with the likes of C3.AI, a company with a market cap nearing $4 billion and annual revenue of approximately $310 million. "We want to pick very specific industries and create these turnkey solutions, which are AI based applications, for our enterprise customers," Dhawan stated.

By fLEXI tEAM