(Reuters) – Shares of Braze Inc opened 34% above the offer price in their market debut on Wednesday, fetching a valuation of nearly $8 billion for the New York-based customer engagement platform.
The company’s stock opened at $87.20 per share, up from the initial public offering price of $65 per share.
Braze’s debut comes amid a slew of listings from the software and technology sector. Most such debuts have seen strong interest from market participants who expect the companies to benefit from the shift to hybrid work following the pandemic.
The company sold 8 million shares in its offering, along with certain selling stockholders, to raise $520 million.
Goldman Sachs & Co, J.P. Morgan and Barclays were the lead underwriters for the offering.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
