Dive Brief:

• Self-service data analytics company Alteryx began trading publicly on Friday, closing up almost 11% from its IPO pricing on its first trading day, CNBC reports.

• Alteryx provides its 2,300 customers — including Amazon, Ford and Coca-Cola — self-service data analytics software to help them determine how products perform and where inefficiencies exist.

• The company lost $24.3 million in 2016, according to company regulatory filings. But revenue has grown strongly, from $38 million in 2014 to nearly $86 million in 2016.

Dive Insight:

Tech companies are hot again, at least for the moment. And tech companies that help businesses perform better are even hotter.

Alteryx helps companies evaluate strengths and weaknesses with its data analytics software platform. Meanwhile Mulesoft, which went public last week in a strong IPO, helps companies connect all types of applications, devices and data through APIs, allowing customers to innovate more quickly.

As the pace of technology innovation continues to increase, businesses are looking for help from companies that can give them a leg up on the competition. Rather than doing the groundwork themselves, businesses can tap companies like Alteryx or Mulesoft and other service providers to do the heavy lifting and allow them to spend more of their time focusing on the bigger picture.