San Francisco-Based Twilio Shares Soar In Stock Market Debut

Twilio sets IPO pricing, rings the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, and kicks off its IPO with a live coding event. In 2015, its revenue jumped to $167 million while its net loss was $36 million.

Last night Twilio priced its IPO at $15 per share, above the $12 to $14 range anticipated in an updated IPO prospectus from last week. Concerning some analysts is that WhatsApp “has no obligation to provide any notice” to Twilio if they choose to stop using Twilio’s services entirely, meaning that 17% of revenue could drop to zero without advance notice, the filing showed. That’s a “red flag for some investors”.

The company enters the public market having yet to turn a profit. The lack of tech IPOs this year has created a pent-up investment demand, which will be compounded by the relatively low volume of shares Twilio is offering – 10 million, with the option to add another 1.5 million.

Twilio’s initial success could persuade wary Wall Street investors to consider more IPOs after a volatile market, interest-rate uncertainty and steep declines in venture funding all but smothered the notion.

The 2016 technology market has been rough on startups looking to embark on an initial public offering, and numerous unicorns-companies with a valuation of over #1 billion-of the last couple of years have elected to stay private rather than risk devaluation.

Twilio’s developer-first platform approach consists of three things: its Programmable Communications Cloud, Super Network and Business Model for Innovators. And to celebrate this milestone, Twilio is celebrating in style – with a live coding session on the NYSE trading floor.

Cloud platforms are a new category of software that enable developers to build and manage applications without the complexity of creating and maintaining the underlying infrastructure.

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