Analysts Already Cool on Snapchat After Hot IPO

On Wednesday night, Snap set a price of $17 per share, valuing the company at $24 billion.

Venture capital firms have been waiting for an encouraging signal-worried that they paid too much for their stakes in so-called unicorn companies (privately held startups valued at over $1 billion), according to Bloomberg’s Sarah McBride. The person asked not to be identified because the information isn’t yet public.

Technology firm Snap Inc. surprised analysts and investors with its long-awaited initial public offering Wednesday, which raised almost $3.5 billion – substantially more than Wall Street expected. That has investors wondering whether the company will end up more like Twitter, with its troubles attracting users and declining stock price, or Facebook, with soaring user numbers and stock price.

Orders for the IPO have begun to come in at the high-end of its range, and its “book” is already oversubscribed, according to people familiar with the process who requested anonymity.

Snap co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, which Snap is listed on.

A Bay Area high school that counts itself among Snap Inc.’s first investors stands to win big after a booming initial public offering and first-day trading. Shares of Snap jumped $8.21, or 48 percent, to $25.21 a share in afternoon trading.

That makes it the biggest United States technology IPO since Alibaba Group Holding in 2014, despite the fact that Snap has never made a profit.

The hugely successful initial public offering of Snap (SNAP) sends a positive message to unicorns and their backers who have anxious that the public markets will no longer support private tech valuations.

The young company saw user growth slow to a halt in the final months of past year, according to its original IPO filing last month. Dozens of other Snap investors could become overnight millionaires.

They each planned to sell 16 million shares, suggesting that they would each see $272 million.

Based in Venice, Calif., Snap is best known for its app offering disappearing messages, but Spiegel describes the business as a camera company that offers a content platform and sells camera-enabled glasses called Spectacles. He said the discussion will also explore the company’s viewpoint on governance and the argument its voting structure could be cheaper than for a company with traditional voting rights.