Webhosting firm Squarespace plans to move ahead with a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange, under the ticker SQSP.

The filing puts the company on course to be the next breakout tech firm to eschew a traditional initial public offering in favor of a direct listing.

"Squarespace has flourished by providing anyone a way to participate in the immense opportunity that comes from publishing and transacting on the internet," wrote Squarespace CEO Anthony Casalena in a letter included in the filing.

Squarespace's primary customers are small business owners and the self-employed who use the companies platform to design and host their websites. Upon debut, Squarespace will have to vie with similar publicly traded companies like Wix (WIX  ) and GoDaddy (GDDY  ) for interest from investors.

Squarespace's announcement follows on the heels of its breakout in 2020. The company managed to grow revenues by 28% while expanding its subscriber base by 23% to 3.6 million, according to CNBC. This growth may have given Squarespace the impetus to pursue a direct listing.

Only a company's existing shares end up being publicly traded in a direct listing. A direct listing allows existing investors to sell their shares immediately upon a stock's debut. And it eliminates the need to raise capital through banks or underwriters.

A direct listing makes sense for Squarespace. The firm had an operating cash flow of $150 million through 2020, meaning the firm doesn't need to raise money through an IPO.

Then again, Squarespace could be following the trend set by other similarly positioned companies like Coinbase (COIN  ), Roblox (RBLX  ), and Palantir (PLTR  ), who all made their debuts through a direct listing.

The larger question is, how will Squarespace deploy the new capital it raises through its direct listing?

Based on data from Intuit, there are a total of 800 million small businesses and self-employed ventures currently operating worldwide. Based on these numbers, Squarespace believes the company has a total addressable market worth $150 billion.

Likely whatever movers Squarespace makes after its debut will be aimed at gobbling up an ever-larger share of that $150 billion market. In its U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, the company emphasizes its plans to boost its e-commerce offerings and expand its subscriber base, particularly in Non-English speaking regions of the globe.

Much of Squarespace's strategy consists of offering new features to its customers through "strategic acquisitions to accelerate key platform, product, and marketing initiatives."

For example, last month, Squarespace acquired restaurant technology provider Tock for $400 million. Similar acquisitions should help Squarespace in the future as it seeks to offer more niche applications to a wider variety of businesses.

For the time being, Squarespace will likely debut with a market cap of $10 billion based on the valuation the company received in March. According to its SEC filing, the company estimates the fair value of its Class A stock at $63.70, which should give investors a benchmark for what sort of share price to expect when Squarespace debuts on the NYSE.

Squarespace has given no timeline for its debut, meaning investors will have to wait.