Business

The marketing automation sector is one of the fastest growing in the burgeoning enterprise space. We see proof of this today with Eloqua’s initial public offering (HPO). The stock opened at $12.02 per share on the NASDAQ for the SaaS provider of performance management technology. It was up 12.92% in trading  from its $11.50 original stock price. The company sold eight million shares. It had a price range of $10-to-$12 per share. Eloqua is halfway through its fiscal year. In 2011 the company had revenues of $71.3 million, up 40%. In 2011, the company has 327 employees. That’s up 15% compared to 2010.ffer as a software as a service (SaaS). According to WSJ, Eloqua’s revenue increased 42% to $45 million this year, although the company reported a net loss of $5.5 million, compared with a loss of $3.5 million in the first half of the prior year. The marketing automation space is highly competitive. Eloqua faces competing from giants like IBM and Oracle. Newer players such as Marketo and P...

Rip Empson is a writer and rabble-rouser at TechCrunch. He covers startups, music, social, mobile, health, and education. You can reach him at rip[at]techcrunch[dot]com ? Learn More It’s been a long time in coming. After first filing to go public in late 2010, Kayak finally came to market today debuting as a public company on NASDAQ, trading under “KYAK.” The travel bookings company has hit its fair share of bumps along the way, thanks to unsteady market conditions, erratic earnings, and a departing CFO. All that has been washed away over the last 48 hours (at least for the time being), as Kayak exceeded the original $21 to $25 price range it set, raising $91M and opening at $26/share this morning. Not only that, but at the close of its first day as a public company, Kayak’s shares have jumped nearly 30 percent, finally resting at $33.18. While it’s not the $115B market cap Facebook opened with, Kayak’s first day performance gives it a market capitalization that is nothing to scoff a...