Klaviyo cofounder Ed Hallen talks about why now was the right time to IPO

Klaviyo, a Boston-based tech company that runs a marketing and data platform built for the e-commerce industry, went public on Wednesday, pricing 19.2 million shares at $30 each—above the original range laid out in its filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). That gives the company a valuation of more than $9 billion. Shares started trading at around 12:45 p.m. ET and opened at $36.75 for an immediate gain of 22.5%. 

Klaviyo’s market debut marks the third highly anticipated IPO in a week, following the IPOs of Instacart and Arm Holdings. Assuming that Klaviyo’s IPO is a success, it could signal a rejuvenation in the IPO market, which has seen a significant slowdown over the past two years. It is worth noting, however, that both Instacart and Arm’s stocks have fallen after an initial surge in value.

Ed Hallen, cofounder and chief product officer of Klaviyo (and a member of the Fast Company Executive Board), tells Fast Company that though it’s a big day for the company, there’s still a lot of work to do.

“It’s an exciting day, and it’s been a long journey, and overall, we’re just super excited,” he says. “There were just two of us [at Klaviyo] for a long time, now there are more than 1,000 employees and 130,000 customers—internally, we like to say that ‘we’re 1% done,’ and today is just one day on a much bigger journey.”

Though overall market conditions have not been kind to companies looking to go public for some time, Hallen says that he and the rest of the team didn’t look to the market for signals regarding IPO timing.

“This is the right time for Klaviyo and for our business,” he says. “It was the natural point in the business when it made the most sense.”

As noted in its prospectus, the company earned $585.1 million in revenue for the 12 months ended June 30 of this year, an increase of 56.5% over the same period last year. It reported a net loss of $9.5 million for the same period.

Klaviyo’s debut is also notable as it marks one of the only software IPOs in the past two years, something that Hallen and the team were also aware of. He says that didn’t become a deciding factor in its IPO timing, though it may have helped capture investor interest.

Above all, he says Klaviyo’s market debut is the culmination of a lot of hard work by the company’s team. He believes Klaviyo owes its success to its long-term approach of building a sustainable company and focusing on its customers—a diverse group that includes multinational conglomerates selling toothpaste and laundry detergent and mom-and-pop hair salons in small towns across the country.

Hallen says that he and the team will take a moment for congratulations today, but come tomorrow, they’re back to business as usual. “We’re heading back to Boston to celebrate with our workers, the people who’ve put in the hard work over the years,” he says. “Tomorrow, it’s back to waking up and continuing to do what we’re doing. As I said, we’re 1% done—that next 99% is going to be heads-down.”