Snowflake's IPO will likely lead to a hefty payday for investors like Sutter Hill Ventures, ICONIQ and Sequoia — and for the $12.4 billion cloud startup's execs, including ex-CEO Bob Muglia

Benoit Dageville Snowflake

Snowflake's upcoming IPO is bound to be a big payday for its investors, including Sequoia Capital, ICONIQ and Sutter Hill Ventures.
The Silicon Valley startup's IPO will likely also benefit its current and former executives, including former CEO Bob Muglia, who left suddenly last year and was replaced by current CEO Frank Slootman.
Slootman, who led the successful IPOs of such tech names as ServiceNow and Data Domain, has a 5.9% stake in the cloud startup which was last valued at $12.4 billion and is said to be aiming for an IPO valuation of $20 billion.
Despite his sudden departure last year, Muglia has kept a 3.3% voting stake in the company.
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Snowflake is finally going public, which could mean a hefty payday for its top investors and executives.

Snowflake filed IPO papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying it intends to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "SNOW." The Silicon Valley cloud data warehousing startup was last valued at $12.4 billion after it raised $479 million in a Series G round. The company was reportedly aiming for a valuation of as high as $20 billion.

Snowflake has raised a total of $1.4 billion from investors, including Sequoia Capital, ICONIQ Capital, Altimeter Capital and Sutter Hill Ventures.

Sutter Hill Ventures, one of Snowflake's early investors, appeared poised for a big return on investment with a 20.3% voting stake in the company, according to the filing.

"Sutter's stake is sizable and they are presumably looking to exit when they can to realize gains for their limited partners," Stephen Diamond, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, and an expert on Silicon Valley startups, told Business Insider.

Sutter's stake was followed by Altimeter Partners with 14.8% voting power, ICONIQ, Mark Zuckerberg's money manager, with 13.8%, Redpoint Ventures with 9%, and Sequoia with 8.4%.

Among Snowflake's current and former executives, CEO Frank Slootman controls a 5.9% stake. Slootman was the former CEO of ServiceNow and Data Domain, two tech companies which had successful IPOs unders his leadership. Snowflake co-founder and president of products Benoit Dageville has a 3.4% voting stake.

Slootman took over as CEO last year after the sudden departure of former CEO Bob Muglia. It was reported that Muglia was ousted because he had downplayed the idea of going public soon. In an interview with Business Insider last year, Slootman called the speculation about Muglia's exit "the dumbest I've ever heard," though he said Snowflake could go public in two to three years.

Muglia, however, still received $17 million in compensation last year, and retained a 3.3% voting stake in the company, according to the filing.

The terms Muglia got are "consistent with the market for departing executives," Diamond said, adding, "Three percent is not a surprise given his relatively long tenure as CEO at six years." However, Muglia is subject to the same restrictions as employees and other insiders, which would limit his ability to exercise his shares for a certain period after the IPO. That lockup period usually lasts for 30 to 45 days.

Got a tip about Snowflake or another tech company? Contact this reporter via email at bpimentel@businessinsider.com, message him on Twitter @benpimentel or send him a secure message through Signal at (510) 731-8429. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

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