Klaviyo Aims for $9 Billion as Platform Prepares for IPO

Marketing automation platform Klaviyo is aiming for a valuation of $9 billion when it goes public.

The company on Monday (Sept. 18) estimated in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that its initial public offering (IPO) price would be between $27 and $29, compared to the $25 to $27 range it previously estimated.

The IPO is happening following a long fallow period of venture-backed tech listings. However, that tide could be turning, following the success of Arm’s recent IPO and grocery delivery service Instacart’s pending public offering.

As CNBC noted in a report Monday, depending on how Klaviyo, Instacart and Arm do with their listings, it could encourage other tech companies to also go public.

Instacart said last week it was aiming to raise $660 million in its IPO, deciding to raise the price range for its shares in the wake of the successful trading debut of chip designer Arm Holdings.

Instacart and its existing shareholders are now marketing 22 million shares at $28 to $30 each, the company said in a Friday filing with the SEC. That’s up from the previously indicated range of $26 to $28 included in a filing last week.

A report Monday by Bloomberg News, citing unnamed sources, said the company could sell shares for $30 or more.

Klaviyo filed paperwork with the SEC last month announcing its intent to list on the New York Stock Exchange.

Founded in 2012, the company began as a platform for eCommerce firms, although it says it is now seeing interest from companies in other industries.

“While our first use cases were focused on the retail and eCommerce vertical, we believe our platform is highly extensible across a broad range of verticals, including education, events and entertainment, restaurants, and travel, as well as B2B companies,” the firm said in its filing.

“As we continue to scale our platform, we expect that our total addressable market will expand to businesses in all verticals that engage with third parties, including customers and clients, through email, SMS or push. Accordingly, we estimate that the total addressable market opportunity for our platform across all of these verticals is $34 billion in the United States alone.”