Lending Club had a strong debut in the public markets today, popping 56 percent from its $15 IPO price to more than $23 per share. As TechCrunch reported previously, the company’s offering was “the largest IPO for a U.S.-based tech company” thus far this calendar year.
The company’s IPO sets the stage for tomorrow’s flotations of both Hortonworks and New Relic. New Relic recently raised the price of its shares ahead of its offering. Given the strong performance of Lending Club, both firms could enjoy positive momentum heading into their debuts — if Lending Club had stumbled, it could have changed market sentiment towards technology shares, potentially harming the two succeeding IPOs.
Box, a company noted for quick revenue growth and expanding losses, recently re-filed its S-1 document, including its more recent financial results. If Hortonworks and New Relic make it out the door in strong fashion, their quick succession following the Lending Club flotation could clear the path for Box to go public itself.
The delayed IPO of Box has long been viewed as a bellwether for technology IPOs. The company has invested aggressively in growing its revenues, spending heavily on sales and marketing costs. Concerns about its margins and future profitability have clouded its path forwarded to date.
Taking the above together, the technology market itself is seeing a strong spurt of IPO behavior, which could be viewed under the rubric of either an overheated set of sector conditions, or a symbol of the industry’s current robustness.
Whatever the case, investors are being offered a number of options to place bets on the newly mature tech firms. Whether they find them to be appealing as a group is about to be tested.
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