Online real estate brokerage Redfin became the latest real estate company to go public, when the company’s shares began trading on the Nasdaq on Friday morning.
Interestingly, the company priced its initial public offering at $15 per share, which is actually beyond the range the company set in its prospectus.
Last month, Redfin laid out its IPO plans in a S-1 form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commissions. Then, earlier this month, Redfin disclosed that it plans to sell 9,231,000 shares of common stock in its IPO, and estimated a price range of between $12 and $14.
But Redfin set the actual price for its IPO at $15, and traders ate up the stock after it began trading at approximately 10am Eastern on Friday.
In early trading, Redfin’s stock (trading under the symbol “RDFN”) shot up past $20 per share, an increase of more than 35% above its initial trading price.
Redfin’s early projections of trading at $14 per share would have placed the company’s market cap beyond $1 billion, so trading at $15 or well beyond that pushes Redfin comfortably into the billion-dollar category.
Redfin initially said that it intends to use the net proceeds that its receives from the offering for “working capital and other general corporate purposes, including technology and development and marketing activities, general and administrative matters, and capital expenditures.”
It added that it would use a portion of the net proceeds to invest in or acquire third-party businesses, products, services, technologies, or other assets.
Redfin started as an online real…