Redfin, the Seattle-based real estate technology brokerage firm, has successfully launched its first IPO (initial public offering) on the US stock market. The company, which currently listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “RDFN,” finally went public after a grueling 13 years in the startup world.
According to TechCrunch, the Seattle-based company has made some great news on NASDAQ, where it managed to raise around $138 million in fresh capital. The company’s stock soared 45 percent on the first day of trading, giving Redfin a market valuation of around $1.73 billion.
This is well above the company’s last funding round, which reportedly about $770 million.
About the technology-powered real estate company
Founded in 2004, Redfin is a technology-powered real estate brokerage company that uses online technology with traditional agents for buying and selling homes. This Seattle-based company has its own army of real estate agents who reportedly earned a salary as well as customer-satisfaction bonuses.
The company uses a mobile application to do real estate tasks such as suggested home listings and scheduling home tours. CEO Glenn Kelman described his company’s home visualization platform more similar with the one uses on Google Street View, except the home tour.
Redfin, the 'Amazon of real estate'
The recent NASDAQ IPO represents a new chapter of life for the Seattle-based company, which was originally started under the name Appliance Computing Inc. in 2002. Under the leadership of its CEO Glenn Kelman, Redfin has managed to leap into the huge real estate market, using online technology as one of its underpinnings.
Redfin initially priced the first batch of shares at $15 on Thursday to achieve the desired $1.2 billion market valuation. This is higher than the company’s expected price range of $12 to $14 a share.
Redfin’s CEO Glenn Kelman has described his own company as the “Amazon of the real estate” because the CEO wants his company to be a one-stop hub for all real estate things.
The company, which first started as a startup, has now grown into a large online marketplace for home listings. And this week’s IPO, the company has even grown much bigger, achieving a much greater valuation and at the same time, raising fresh capital for its planned expansion.
This is big news for the company’s shareholders and investors. One of the investors to benefit the most from the recent IPO is Greylock Partners, which reportedly owned a 12.4 percent stake in the company.
Other like Madrona Ventures, which owned 11.4 percent stake, Tiger Global (10.5 percent stake) and DFJ (10.2 percent stake), are also stand to benefit in the company ‘s first IPO on NASDAQ.
As mentioned earlier by TechCrunch, some investors have started to like Redfin’s improving financials, which now shown a strong year-over –year growth.
The company’s 2016 revenue has climbed 43 percent, to $267.2 million, up from $187.3 million a year earlier and $125.4 million in 2014. Redfin has also managed to narrow net loss to $22.5 million (2016) from $30.2 million in 2015.
