Klaviyo Filed to Go Public, Which Is a Good Sign for the IPO Market

Key Takeaways

• Klaviyo, a marketing automation company backed by Shopify, submitted its IPO filing on Friday
• This filing comes after about 18 months of declining tech valuations and a quiet American IPO market
• Klaviyo’s IPO date, number of shares, and share price have yet to be confirmed

On Friday, marketing automation company Klaviyo filed to go public. The company plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “KVYO,” according to Securities and Exchange Commission paperwork. Grocery delivery platform Instacart also submitted its IPO filing on Friday. These two companies are offering a glimmer of hope for what has been a sluggish IPO landscape since 2021. Is this the start of a turnaround? We’ll discuss below.

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What was Klaviyo’s path to IPO?

Klaviyo started in response to changing e-commerce trends in 2012. Customer relationships were shifting from in-person to online, and Klaviyo allowed companies to store user data and send targeting, more relevant marketing over email and text.

Klaviyo was initially marketed to online businesses (though it has since expanded) which explains why Shopify owns about 11% of the company’s shares. As of late-2022, about 77.5% of Klaviyo’s annualized recurring revenue came from Shopify customers.

Shopify also helps Klaviyo by promoting it as the recommended email solution for its Shopify Plus customers. But it’s worth noting that while Klaviyo and Shopify are intertwined, Klaviyo also has integrations with Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Adobe’s Magento.

Is this IPO a promising one?

There are still a lot of unknowns here since Klaviyo just filed on Friday. However, we can take a look at some key numbers.

For the twelve months ending June 30, 2023, Klaviyo said it generated $585.1 million in revenue, which is up 56.5% from the previous twelve months. It had a reported 130,000 customers as of June 30th as well, compared to 105,000 customers a year ago.

Klaviyo’s numbers indicate efficiency and fast growth. While Instacart’s IPO generated some excitement, Klaviyo really stands out as a true tech and software business (versus delivery). If its IPO goes well, it might help reinvigorate the tech market.

The bottom line

This new trickle of IPO filings will tell us what the rest of the year might look like for venture-backed startups eyeing a public offering.

Someone had to be the first to break the ice and get things moving again, and it looks like Klaviyo was willing to step up. If it performs well, we’ll likely see more tech founders seizing the moment and more investors betting on the up-and-comers.

We created the Emerging Tech Kit to offer you an opportunity to capitalize on the most exciting players in tech — like new companies on the market. Higher risk investments in the Emerging Tech Kit can provide upside potential from top AI picks within this theme.

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