The online used car seller has raised $467.5 million in its U.S. IPO
Vroom Inc, the online used car seller, has raised £369.53 million ($467.5 million) in its U.S. IPO, the company said on Monday, as the IPO market comes out of the hiatus after the coronavirus crisis paused many debuts.
The car seller has priced its IPO at £17.39 ($22), higher than the initially marketed range of £14.23 ($18) to £15.81 ($20), valuing the company at £1.96 billion ($2.48 billion). Vroom is backed by funds such as T Rowe Price Associates and L Catterton. It sold 21.25 million shares as compared to the planned 18.8 million shares.
Several IPO-hopefuls have entered the race following the recent recovery in U.S. stock markets. Royalty Pharma unveiled plans to raise up to £1.55 billion ($1.96 billion) in an IPO.
Vroom reported over twofold increase in sales at its e-commerce business in Q1 2020 as the Covid-19 outbreak and lockdown restrictions led to a surge in online shopping.
The company, which closes deals via digital tools and home delivers vehicles to customers, said revenue for the first quarter jumped 60 percent from a year earlier, and net loss attributable to Vroom’s common stockholders narrowed down to approximately £32.49 million ($41.1 million) from £35.65 million ($45.1 million).
Rival Carvana Co, whose stock plunged around 80 percent in a month, has recovered dramatically to be up 26% on-year as online car purchase gains favour after the pandemic.
Lemonade Inc, the tech-driven insurance startup, whose investors include Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp and Alphabet Inc’s venture capital arm GV, also filed for a U.S. listing.
Vroom shares will list on Nasdaq under the symbol “VRM”.
The joint lead bookrunners of the offering included Goldman Sachs, BofA Securities, Allen & Co, and Wells Fargo Securities.
