Klaviyo files to go public in latest sign of life for IPO market

Data and marketing automation company Klaviyo on Friday became the latest tech company to try to join the public markets.

Klaviyo said that it plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “KVYO,” according to paperwork filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Klaviyo follows grocery-delivery service Instacart’s long-awaited IPO filing, also submitted on Friday. The companies are trying to pry open an IPO window that has been mostly shut since late 2021. In December of that year, software vendor HashiCorp and Samsara, which develops cloud technology for industrial companies, went public, but there have been few significant venture-backed tech IPOs since. Chip design giant Arm, which is owned by Japan’s SoftBank, filed for a Nasdaq listing on Monday.

Founded in 2012, Klaviyo helps companies store user data and build profiles on them to send targeted marketing via email, text messages and other channels. It got its start in the e-commerce industry by primarily serving online businesses, though Klaviyo said it’s seeing growing demand from companies in other verticals like restaurants, travel, and events and entertainment.

In its prospectus, Klaviyo reported net income of $15.2 million for the first six months of the year, compared with a net loss of $24.6 million during the same period a year ago. It had revenue of approximately $321 million for the first half of the year, vs. about $208 million in the first six months of 2022.

One of Klaviyo’s biggest backers and sources of business is Shopify. The Canadian e-commerce giant owns roughly 11% of Klaviyo’s shares, and invested $100 million in the company last August. As of the end of 2022, about 77.5% of Klaviyo’s annualized recurring revenue, or value of its existing paid subscriptions, was derived from customers who also use Shopify, the company said. Klaviyo also has a partnership with Shopify where it is the “recommended email solution” for members of its Shopify Plus program. It also has integrations with other popular e-commerce platforms like BigCommerce, Adobe’s Magento, and Salesforce Commerce Cloud.

Klaviyo said it had more than 130,000 customers as of June 30, compared to 105,000 customers a year ago.