Shares of Walmart-backed Ibotta opened at $117 on Thursday and peaked at $117.59 after pricing at $88 on Wednesday in an IPO that was oversubscribed by 20%.
In late afternoon buying and selling, shares had retreated to about $105, nonetheless a 19% rise from Wednesday’s shut. Preliminary pricing for the shares—6.56 million had been offered at $88, generating more than $577 million—had been within the vary of $76 to $84.
“We had just overwhelming demand,” CEO Bryan Leach advised Fortune on Wednesday. “There was nowhere near enough stock. There still isn’t.”
Matt Kennedy, a senior IPO strategist at Renaissance Capital, which gives pre-IPO analysis and manages two IPO-focused ETFs, advised Fortune that Ibotta pricing $4 above the highest of its vary mirrored, at the least partially, the corporate’s development. For the yr ending Dec. 31, income was up 52% to $320 million. For 2023, the agency reported internet revenue of $38 million in contrast with a lack of almost $55 million in 2022.
“It’s very encouraging to see that demand was resilient enough to price above the range,” Kennedy added. “VC-backed tech IPOs have been very rare. There’s only been a handful in the last two years.”
However after that lull, the market’s heating up—particularly for tech. Final month, Reddit raised $748 million in a much-anticipated providing, and Astera Labs grabbed $713 million. However shares of each have declined since steep rises instantly after the IPOs, so Ibotta may show an actual take a look at for the latest crop of public choices, Kennedy stated.
“Because of how few tech IPOs there are, any deal with a lot of publicity can generate that excitement,” Kennedy advised Fortune. “People are anticipating pops, and I think that played out with Reddit and Astera Labs.”
The yr’s largest IPO to this point nonetheless belongs to Amer Sport, the maker of Wilson tennis racquets, which raised $1.37 billion in February, in accordance with information from Dealogic. Subsequent week, Rubrik, a Microsoft-backed cloud information safety supplier, is scheduled to make its debut on the NYSE in a deal that might raise as much as $713 million.
However in contrast to Ibotta, Rubrik has but to show a revenue, Kennedy famous, which may mood investor demand for the inventory of one other “potentially fast-growing but extremely unprofitable” tech agency.
