SurveyMonkey surged 42 percent in its stock market debut Wednesday, ending trading at $17.

Shares rose as much as 67 percent to a session high of $20 before settling to more modest gains.

The software company that offers digital survey and data analytics services for enterprise and personal use priced its shares at $12 a piece Tuesday night, above the expected range of $9 to $11. It also increased the number of shares up for sale to 15 million from 13.5 million, raising $180 million.

The stock — under the company's formal name, SVMK Inc. — trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "SVMK."

CEO Zander Lurie told CNBC's "Squawk Box" earlier Wednesday that SurveyMonkey handles more than 20 million answers from over 3 million people every day and that the company pays "great heed" to consumer privacy.