Klaviyo could break the unicorn IPO logjam

1 year ago 203

Last Friday, two venture-backed companies filed to go public. Grocery delivery service Instacart dropped its Form S-1 filing along with Klaviyo, a marketing software company from Boston.

We dug into Instacart’s filing on Friday, but didn’t have time to also spelunk into Klaviyo’s IPO filing. We’re going to do that today, because Klaviyo’s IPO moment perhaps matters more than it would in another time.

Here’s an inside look at Klaviyo’s origins, how it’s grown over the years, the trade-offs it made, how email marketing is evolving, and more:

The Klaviyo EC-1

Sure, Klaviyo has raised hundreds of millions of dollars and was last valued at nearly $10 billion, but what this IPO does for other companies could prove more important than the money it raises for Klaviyo itself.

The American IPO market has been moribund and generally stuck in a quagmire for about 18 months now. Declining tech valuations on the stock market and changing investor sentiment put IPOs on hold. Meanwhile, the venture market contracted, especially the late-stage venture market, squeezing unicorns and leaving their investors unable to cash out.

To get things rolling again, everyone’s been saying that tech companies need a winning IPO to be inspired by. But given the significant uncertainty in the market, no one wanted to take the first step.

A champion was needed. A company with enough strength and fortitude to be the first to go public and pave the way so other companies could follow. Instacart fit the bill only partially since it’s more of a delivery company than a pure-play software business. Klaviyo, however, is a shockingly efficient software business that is profitable and growing quickly.