When it comes to IPO news, there’s a good reason the past couple of months have been dominated by Shopify – Canada’s current tech darling. But Shopify is not the only Canadian company to step on the public financial stage.
On June 25, Vancouver-based Mogo, a company that runs an online credit lending platform, completed its own initial public offering. It did so on the Toronto Stock Exchange by issuing 5,000,000 common shares at a price of $10 per share. All told, the company went into the day expecting to raise $50 million, and despite a tough initial reaction from stock buyers, the company was able to raise the money it wanted.
“Our IPO represents a major milestone for the company and provides us with additional capital to fuel continued growth,” said David Feller, founder & CEO of Mogo, in a prepared statement issued prior to the start of trading. “We believe we are at the early stages of a significant growth opportunity. The consumer credit market is moving increasingly to an online and mobile world, and Mogo is well positioned to take advantage of this. Through our technology-driven platform, which has originated over 900,000 loans since 2007, we can provide a more efficient customer experience and better product offering.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, Mogo will use the funds from its IPO to pay down its debt and other expenses, as well as to acquire some other companies.
Mogo’s platform allows Canadians to apply for a loan of up to $25,000 for terms ranging between one to five years. Depending on a person’s interest rate, the company will charge an interest rate between 6.9 per cent to 35.9 per cent.
As of the writing of this article, Mogo’s stock is trading at $8.94 per share.