Four years ago, one of the most intense battles in enterprise software was underway between two startups led by former colleagues: Rubrik and Cohesity. They help businesses manage data, and they also market themselves as offering protection against ransomware attacks. At the time, Rubrik was clearly in the lead, but Cohesity was growing faster and gaining on it.

Times have changed. By one measure—closeness to going public—Rubrik appears to be well ahead of Cohesity. Rubrik recently hired bankers to help it go public, according to people familiar with the matter. Cohesity still intends to go public, executives told staffers at a town hall meeting earlier this month. But the company’s losses may delay that.