ThoughtSpot Names CFO As it Eyes Public Offering

ThoughtSpot Inc. hired its first finance chief as the analytics company looks to grow its business and prepare for a potential initial public offering. Mohit Daswani, previously the head of finance and strategy at payments company Square Inc., this month was named chief financial officer of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based ThoughtSpot. He will help manage growth, prepare the company’s information technology systems and standardize workflows and procedures ahead of an IPO, company executives say.

“We wanted someone who understands that in the world that we are living in, investments have to be forward-leaning and risks have to be taken,” ThoughtSpot Chief Executive Sudheesh Nair said in an interview. He said he spoke to more than 30 different candidates before opting for Mr. Daswani.

ThoughtSpot raised $248 million in late-stage funding in August, raising the company’s valuation to about $1.95 billion at the time. ThoughtSpot’s software helps companies find relevant business information through a tool that works similar to a Google search bar. It targets a range of industries, including financial services, health care and telecommunications, Mr. Nair said. Customers pay either upfront or through a subscription, which means that a large portion of ThoughtSpot’s revenue is recurring. The number of newly signed-up customers can fluctuate month-by-month, making it key for the company to become a predictable business, Mr. Daswani said.

Mr. Daswani’s role will be to support that effort, to allocate funds for the company’s global expansion and to scale its operations, he said. “It will require discipline and systems to run the company on scale,” Mr. Daswani said, adding that he also would focus on building out ThoughtSpot’s finance team. The company has around 500 employees—around 30 of those in finance—and operates out of 12 offices globally. Prior to his role at Square, Mr. Daswani for four years worked at PayPal Holdings Inc., including as CFO of the company’s payments, risk and technology businesses, he said. The enterprise analytics sector consolidated last year, with Salesforce.com Inc. acquiring Tableau Software Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google buying Looker. ThoughtSpot competes with other private data companies such as Celonis SE, DataStax Inc. and Sisense Inc., analysts at Canaccord Genuity LLC wrote in a note to clients, adding that they could become involved in mergers or acquisitions. Even though ThoughtSpot isn’t in a hurry to go public, Mr. Nair said, the company’s management ultimately wants to pursue an IPO. “It is much easier to acquire another company when you are public,” he said.

Read more at:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/thoughtspot-names-cfo-as-it-eyes-public-offering-11579297709