The share price of Affirm Holdings (NASDAQ:AFRM) almost doubled in its initial public offering (IPO).
Shares of the San Francisco-based company, which provides installment loans to online shoppers, closed up 98% to $97.24 U.S. in New York trading. The company sold 24.6 million shares at $49 U.S. each in its IPO to raise a total of $1.2 billion U.S.
Affirm closed its first day of trading with a market value of more than $23 billion U.S. The company has a fully diluted valuation of almost $30 billion U.S., including options and restricted stock units.
Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) and DoorDash (NYSE:DASH) each soared above their IPO prices when they went public in December, showing the appetite for tech listings but raising questions about how the deals were priced. Airbnb currently trades about 150% higher than its listing at a market value of more than $100 billion U.S., while DoorDash is up about 94%.
Affirm’s IPO will be followed by several other high-profile listings. Mobile game developer Playtika Holdings Inc. and auto service and supply company Driven Brands Holdings Inc. are holdings IPOs on Thursday (January 14).
Founded in 2017 by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, Affirm counts Lightspeed Venture Partners and Shopify among its investors. Levchin is the biggest shareholder.
