Workday Files for a $400 Million IPO

Workday, the fast-growing cloud software company, has filed for a $400 million IPO, a public debut that will likely become one of the most-watched tech offerings in the pipeline.

In a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission today, the company said that the bulk of the proceeds will go toward working capital and other general corporate purposes.

Underwriters include Morgan Stanley, Allen & Co., Cowen and Co., Pacific Crest Securities, Canaccord Genuity, Wells Fargo Securities, JMP Securities, J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs & Co.

The seven-year-old company, which has 1,450 employees, says it has seen tremendous growth for its enterprise resource management software.

Over the past three years, the company’s revenue has skyrocketed, increasing 400 percent to $134.4 million. And in the first six months of 2012 it has already booked $119.5 million in revenues. However, the company has a history of losses. In the year ended Jan. 31, it lost $80 million. In the prior year (which is slightly different, because the company changed its fiscal calendar), Workday lost $56.2 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2010.

As of July 31, Workday had cash and cash equivalents of $122.7 million.

The IPO filing comes a little later than originally expected. My colleague Arik Hesseldahl reported previously that the company had been on track for a late-summer or early fall road show, so that shares could debut between October and December, depending on how favorable market conditions were. Those events may now be pushed out a little further.

The biggest shareholders are the company’s co-CEOs, Aneel Bhusri and Dave Duffield, who own 19.3 percent and 53.4 percent of the company, respectively. Greylock Partners and New Enterprise Associates are the two largest VCs backing the company, owning 11 percent and 10 percent of shares, respectively.

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