Benzinga - by Anusuya Lahiri, Benzinga Editor.
Marketing and data automation provider Klaviyo Inc (NYSE: KVYO) stock is trading higher by 16% on its trading debut.
The company priced its initial public offering above expectations, raising $576 million. Klaviyo's shares opened at $36.75, beating the market expectations of $34 - $36.
The IPO saw Klaviyo and some of its current investors sell 19.2 million shares for $30 each, surpassing their earlier marketing range of $27 to $29 per share.
This development gives the Boston-based company a fully diluted value of approximately $9 billion, Bloomberg reports.
While Klaviyo may not be as well-known as recent IPOs like Arm Holdings Plc (NASDAQ: ARM) and Maplebear Inc (NASDAQ: CART) Instacart, Wall Street views it as a more traditional technology IPO.
The company specializes in email marketing for other businesses. Like Arm and Instacart, Klaviyo secured cornerstone investors to support its listing. BlackRock, Inc (NYSE: BLK) and AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE: AB) showed interest in purchasing up to $100 million worth of IPO shares collectively, according to Klaviyo's filings with the U.S. SEC.
Klaviyo's investor roster includes growth equity firm Summit Partners, e-commerce giant Shopify Inc (NYSE: SHOP), and venture firms Accomplice and Accel.
Financially, Klaviyo has shown positive growth, with approximately $15 million in net income and $321 million in revenue for the first half of this year, compared to a loss of $25 million on $208 million in revenue during the same period in the previous year.
The company's largest shareholder will remain co-founder and CEO Andrew Bialecki, who will maintain control over 39% of the voting power, followed by Summit with 21%, according to the filings. Bialecki, 37, founded the company in 2012 after studying physics, astronomy, and astrophysics at Harvard.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), and Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) will lead the IPO.
Price Action: KVYO shares traded higher by 15.10% at $34.51 on the last check Wednesday.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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