At the close of trading after its much-anticipated IPO, Shopify’s market value was set at $1.9 billion USD.
“Management was ready, the product was ready, the team was ready,” Tobias Lütke, Shopify’s CEO and co-founder, said to Bloomberg News earlier today. “We decided, ‘Let’s go public’. We want to be a strong, independent, long-lasting company.”
The Ottawa-based e-commerce company announced Wednesday that it had sold 7,700,000 Class A subordinate shares at $17 USD to a group of underwriters, raising $131 million. By end of trading today, Shopify’s share had increased 51% over IPO price, closing at $25.68 US on the NYSE and $31.25 on the TSX. According to the Ottawa Citizen, the company’s shares hit a high of $28.74 US on the NYSE and $35 CDN on the TSX throughout the day.