UPDATED 21:51 EDT / MAY 19 2021

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Shares in business website provider Squarespace drop on NYSE debut

Shares in business website provider Squarespace Inc. dropped on their debut on the New York Stock Exchange today after the company went public via a direct listing.

With a reference price of $50 per share, the first trade in Squarespace was $48 per share at 1:19 p.m. EDT. The company’s share price dropped to $43.65 as of the close of regular trading. After raising funding in March on a valuation of $10 billion, Squarespace is now valued at about $6 billion.

Founded in 2003, Squarespace pitches itself as an all-in-one platform for websites, domains, online stores, marketing tools and scheduling. It’s best known as a website hosting company with an easy-to-use back end for setting up websites from scratch.

Squarespace provides a broad spectrum of services for companies and individuals wishing to build an online presence. The company provides the ability to buy a domain name, set up a site using ready-made templates and customize the layout all in one platform. It also offers a selection of tools such as a storefront builder for online retailers.

Coming into its direct listing, Squarespace reported revenue of $621 million in 2020, up from $485 million in 2019. The company posted $30.6 million in net income in 2020 and said it had 3.7 million individual subscriptions as of the end of December.

Squarespace’s direct listing comes amid choppy market conditions. Reuters reported that the conditions have forced at least three companies, including mortgage insurer Enact Holdings Inc. and hearing care services company Here.com, to pull their initial public offerings.

Whether the poor debut of Squarespace, a company with reasonably strong fundamentals, signals a switch in market sentiment concerning tech stocks or a one-off is yet to be seen. Equity markets appear to be jittery, with Wall Street stocks falling for the third day in a row amid concerns about inflation and the plunge in the price of cryptocurrencies.

Squarespace had raised $578.5 million in funding, according to data from Crunchbase. Investors include T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, D1 Capital Partners, Tiger Global, The Spruce House Partnership, General Atlantic, Accel and Dragoneer.

Image: Squarespace

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