• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
CommentaryPagerDuty

There’s an Exciting Tech Company IPO This Week–and it’s Not Uber

By
Adam Lashinsky
Adam Lashinsky
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Adam Lashinsky
Adam Lashinsky
Down Arrow Button Icon
April 11, 2019, 1:18 PM ET
Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit 2018
Cindy Robbins, President and Chief People Officer at Salesforce, and Terri Cooper (far right), Chief Inclusion Officer at Deloitte at Fortune's Most Powerful Women's Summit in Laguna Niguel, California on October 3rd, 2018. Stuart Isett for Fortune Most Powerful Women

This article first appeared in Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the top tech news. To get it delivered daily to your in-box, sign up here.

I point your attention this morning to the hottest IPO news of the day.

No, I don’t mean Uber, that jumbled-up psych-out of a situation where market savants say it’s a good thing Uber will seek only a $100 billion valuation (prudent), which is really bad news for Lyft (too aggressive in its own pricing), now trading (at $60 per share) 32% below the top tick some sad sack paid on Lyft’s nine-working-days-ago IPO day.

I’m referring instead to the non-household name PagerDuty, a company that provides online tools for software developers. PagerDuty is the kind of boring guts-of-the-system technology company true bits-and-bytes investors love. It is growing quickly. Sales of $118 million for its last fiscal year were up nearly 50%. Of course, it’s not making money because it is plowing its money into growth. CEO Jennifer Tejada, who is also member of the board at The Estée Lauder Companies, spoke at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Next Gen conference in December, offering advice on career advancement. She would know.

Investors clearly are enthusiastic about Tejada’s company. At its above-expected IPO price of $24, the company is worth about $1.8 billion. A multiple of 15 times revenue is stratospheric, but a not-unreasonable blend of its competitors’ valuations. Splunk (SPLK) is worth about 11 times its sales; Atlassian (TEAM) 26 times.

As for what PagerDuty does, it describes itself as acting “as the central nervous system for the digital enterprise.” It crunches all the signals fed into a modern digital operation and prioritizes, analyzes, and directs traffic on where those signals should go next. It’s one of the first companies I’ve ever seen brag in its own securities filing that it is a tonic for the “digital transformation” needs that ail legacy enterprises.

It’s the kind of stuff that will never quicken the heartbeat of the average investor. But PagerDuty’s growth rate just might.

About the Author
By Adam Lashinsky
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Commentary

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Commentary

wyle
CommentaryTV
What HBO’s ‘The Pitt’ gets right—and wrong—about treating alcohol use disorder
By Jonathan Hunt-GlassmanApril 2, 2026
2 hours ago
nic
CommentaryInsider trading
Prediction markets caught insider traders in real time. Congress wants to shut them down anyway
By Nic PuckrinApril 2, 2026
3 hours ago
elon
CommentarySpaceX
The SpaceX IPO is great — but it won’t deliver 100x returns 
By Jeffrey StewartApril 1, 2026
17 hours ago
gary
Commentaryregulation
The biggest mistake CEOs make with AI has nothing to do with the technology
By Gary ShapiroApril 1, 2026
1 day ago
trump
CommentaryEPA
The EPA just valued a human life at $0. That’s not just a moral crisis — it’s a market crisis
By Andrew BeharApril 1, 2026
1 day ago
dressel
Commentaryhistory
AI can’t remember what your company learned the hard way 
By Jason DresselApril 1, 2026
1 day ago

Most Popular

Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they're turning 'welcomer cities' into the next big tech towns
Real Estate
Gen Z fled San Francisco for Texas and Florida. Now they're turning 'welcomer cities' into the next big tech towns
By Fortune EditorsApril 2, 2026
8 hours ago
Current price of gold as of April 1, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of gold as of April 1, 2026
By Fortune EditorsApril 1, 2026
1 day ago
Two-thirds of parents say their adult Gen Z kids still rely on them financially  for support—even though it's putting them under strain
Success
Two-thirds of parents say their adult Gen Z kids still rely on them financially  for support—even though it's putting them under strain
By Fortune EditorsMarch 31, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of April 1, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of April 1, 2026
By Fortune EditorsApril 1, 2026
1 day ago
Jerome Powell says the $39 trillion national debt is ‘not unsustainable,’ but warns the trajectory ‘will not end well’
Economy
Jerome Powell says the $39 trillion national debt is ‘not unsustainable,’ but warns the trajectory ‘will not end well’
By Fortune EditorsMarch 30, 2026
3 days ago
2 years after Musk challenged Zuckerberg to a cage match, they were texting about DOGE and a joint OpenAI bid, court records reveal
Law
2 years after Musk challenged Zuckerberg to a cage match, they were texting about DOGE and a joint OpenAI bid, court records reveal
By Fortune EditorsMarch 31, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.