Tableau Software Inc., a provider of digital-charting tools, raised $254.2 million in its initial public offering, the largest U.S. technology IPO this year, pricing an increased number of shares above the range.

The Seattle-based company and its largest shareholder, New Enterprise Associates, sold 8.2 million shares for $31 each, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, after offering 7.2 million for $28 to $30 a share. Tableau raised the range day from $23 to $26. The stock will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DATA.

The IPO is the biggest for a U.S. technology company since business software maker Workday Inc. raised more than $730 million in October. Tableau, whose software helps users without programming skills create complex graphics and maps out of data, aims to join a crop of recent business technology providers to thrive on the public markets. Workday and ServiceNow Inc. have more than doubled since their debuts last year while Palo Alto Networks Inc. has gained 29 percent.

Tableau's revenue climbed 62 percent in the first quarter to $40 million. Licenses accounted for about two-thirds of sales in the period, with the rest attributable to maintenance and services. More than half of the company's revenue was spent on sales and marketing and about a third on research and development, resulting in a $4.04 million net loss for the quarter. That compares with a profit of $1.06 million a year earlier.

Special Effects

Tableau was co-founded in 2003 by Pat Hanrahan, an Academy Award-winning Stanford University professor, whose software has created movie special effects and animations. More than 10,000 companies, including Bank of America Corp., Coca-Cola Co. and Apple Inc., have used Tableau's products. Competitors include International Business Machines Corp., Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp. and Qlik Technologies Inc.

Tableau's biggest shareholder is venture-capital firm NEA, which had a 37 percent stake before the offering and planned to sell 1 million shares, according to the prospectus. Hanrahan owned 18 percent, while co-founders Christopher Stolte and Christian Chabot, who is also chief executive officer, each owned about 15 percent. Meritech Capital Partners controlled about 6.5 percent, the original offering terms show.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley led the deal.

In a separate technology IPO, Marketo Inc. raised $78.8 million, pricing 6.06 million shares at $13 apiece, the top of the marketed range. The San Mateo, California-based company, which sells software for marketing automation and sales effectiveness, competes with Eloqua Inc., purchased by Oracle late last year for about $871 million.

Marketo, listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market, will trade under the ticker symbol MKTO. Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse Group AG led the IPO.