Real estate site Redfin soars 45% after IPO
It was a great day for Redfin, the Seattle-based real estate site which finally went public after 13 years as a startup. After pricing above the range at $15 per share, the stock soared 45% before closing at $21.72.
This gives Redfin a market cap of $1.73 billion, well above its last private round, which PitchBook estimates was $1.03 billion. Redfin raised over $167 million in equity funding over the years.
Just days before the IPO, one of its original co-founders threatened a patent lawsuit. But investors don’t seem to be too worried.
Greylock Partners stands to benefit the most since the firm owned a 12.4 percent stake prior to the IPO. Madrona Ventures owned 11.4 percent, Tiger Global owned 10.5 percent and Draper Fisher Jurvetson owned 10.2 percent.
Redfin makes money by taking a cut of the home sales generated by its site. The IPO filing touted stats that show the commission is lower than the industry average.
Investors seem to be liking Redfin’s improving financials. The company has shown strong year-over-year growth. Its top line was $267.2 million revenue for last year, up from $187.3 million in 2015 and $125.4 million in 2014. Losses narrowed to $78 million for 2016, down from $132.5 million in 2015.
But Redfin’s first quarter showed growing losses, largely due to the introduction of its mortgage origination business. In the first quarter of 2017, it lost $52.8 million, up from the $29.5 million loss in the same quarter of last year.
Redfin isn’t the first Seattle-based real estate site to IPO. The company, which now owns Trulia, went public in 2011.
Redfin listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker “RDFN.”
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