A Wall Street sign is visible in front of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, New York, United States on July 19, 2021. REUTERS / Andrew Kelly

Sep 20 (Reuters) – Toast Inc targets a valuation of up to $ 18 billion after raising the price range of its US IPO as the catering software maker seeks to capitalize on a boom record in capital markets this year.

Toast, founded in 2011, offers a software platform that enables restaurants to keep up with the rapidly evolving needs of their business, including managing online orders, operating an on-demand delivery network and integration of payments.

The company said it is now looking to sell nearly 21.7 million shares at a price of between $ 34 and $ 36 each, according to a regulatory filing released on Monday. He previously aimed to price the shares between $ 30 and $ 33 each. Read more

At the top of the new fork, Boston-based Toast is said to raise as high as $ 782.6 million when it goes public.

As of June 30, the company had partnered with nearly 48,000 restaurants and had processed more than $ 38 billion in gross payment volume in the past 12 months, according to the filing.

Toast, last valued at $ 5 billion after a February funding round, is looking to enter a market that has seen several high-profile startups like Coinbase Global Inc (COIN.O), Roblox Corp (RBLX .N) and Chinese Didi Global Inc (DIDI.N) goes public this year.

Unprecedented government stimulus measures and near-zero interest rates put in place to combat the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic are fueling the bull race in U.S. capital markets.

Toast, which counts TPG, Tiger Global Management and American Express Ventures among its investors, was forced to halve its workforce at the start of the pandemic.

It has focused on products such as delivery networks and contactless payments due to the high demand for such services last year.

Toast will list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “TOST”.

Report by Niket Nishant in Bangalore; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel

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