Apptio representatives rang the opening bell on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Credit: Nasdaq
Apptio representatives rang the opening bell on the Nasdaq Stock Market Friday morning. Credit: Nasdaq.

Wall Street likes what it sees in Apptio.

After setting a price of $16 per share for its initial public offering, the Bellevue-based company that makes software to help CIOs better understand spending in IT departments saw its stock soar to $23.40 when markets opened Friday morning. That is an increase of more than 46 percent. UPDATE: Apptio’s stock closed Friday at $22.55 per share.

Apptio began trading Friday morning under the symbol APTI. The company is offering six million shares of Class A stock, and underwriters have options on another 900,000 shares. Apptio originally planned to offer its stock at $13 to $15 per share. Given the starting price of $16 per share, Apptio could raise $96 million from the IPO, and even more if underwriters exercise their options.

Apptio is the second technology company from the Seattle area to go public this year, following in the footsteps of RFID software and chip maker Impinj. Founded 16 years ago, Impinj, went public at $14 per share last month, and it is now trading at close to $34 per share.

Apptio CEO Sunny Gupta at the company's HQ in Bellevue
Apptio CEO Sunny Gupta at the company’s HQ in Bellevue

This week is considered to be the busiest week for IPOs so far this year, with the largest of the bunch being motor oil and automative lubricant producer Valvoline. However, it has been a relatively slow year for public offerings. Just 68 companies have priced IPOs in the U.S. so far this year, down from 134 IPOs at this time last year, according to Renaissance Capital’s IPOHome.com.

Apptio employed 694 people as of June 30, 2016, up from 628 during the same period last year. The company finished 2015 with $129.3 million in revenue, a 21 percent increase over the 2014 totals of $106.6 million. It also said that it has 325 customers, including 40 percent of the Fortune 100 companies, using its products.

Even though revenues have topped $100 million for the past two years, losses also are growing, and the company has yet to turn a profit. In 2015, Apptio showed a net loss of $41 million, which compared to a net loss of $32.9 million in 2014.

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