Klaviyo Shares Hop 9% In NYSE Debut Marking Week's 2nd Major Startup IPO

Shares of data automation startup Klaviyo closed up around 9% on their first day of trading on Wednesday, a muted performance for the second big venture-backed IPO of the week.

Late Tuesday, the company priced shares at $30 each, a bit above the projected range, raising around $576 million. The offering set an initial valuation of around $9 billion for Boston-based Klaviyo, which made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “KYVO.” Shares initially popped about 20% in early trading before subsiding as the day wore on.

Klaviyo’s offering follows a period of sharp growth for 11-year-old Klaviyo, which helps e-commerce brands analyze their data and use it to send personalized marketing messages to consumers. It turned a profit of $15 million on $321 million in revenue in the first half of the year — up 54% versus a year earlier.

Its most recent funding round was a $100 million investment led by e-commerce giant Shopify a year ago that valued it at close to $10 billion. Other investors include Summit Partners, Accel, Owl Rock Capital and Whale Rock Capital Management. To date, the company has raised over $770 million in venture funding, per Crunchbase.

Klaviyo’s offering is the latest and smallest in a trio of high-profile debuts in the past two weeks. Last week, chipmaker Arm Holdings entered the market, raising $4.87 billion in a well-received Nasdaq debut. Then on Tuesday, Instacart delivered on its much-awaited offering, with shares rising on their first day out before retreating some in today’s trading.