Circle pops over 175% in market debut as sleepy IPO market heats up

Good things come to those who wait. Circle, which tried to go public four years ago but had to call off its deal, finally listed its stock on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday at an opening price of $69—and promptly saw shares pop to an intra-day high of $103.75. That jump amounted to a 175% increase, though by mid-day Circle was trading around $89 a share—which values the company close to $23 billion.

Circle is a leading U.S. crypto firm that issues the stablecoin USDC. In 2013, internet entrepreneur Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville co-founded Circle, but Neville stepped down as co-CEO in 2019, leaving Allaire as sole chief executive. Circle has raised $1.1 billion in funding from investors including BlackRock and Coinbase, according to Crunchbase.

Late Wednesday, Circle raised $1.05 billion after selling 34 million shares at $31 each in an upsized deal. Earlier this week, the company boosted its offering to 32 million shares at $27 to $28 each. J.P. Morgan, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs served as lead underwriters on the IPO.

Circle’s strong performance is redemption for its failed attempt to merge with a special purpose acquisition company in 2021. Circle ended up calling off the transaction in 2022 when the SEC failed to sign off on the deal.

The Circle offering is the biggest crypto IPO since Coinbase went public in 2021 using a direct listing. JPMorgan and Citi were also part of the team that served as financial advisors for the Coinbase listing, according to regulatory filings.

The strong performance from Circle on Thursday comes during an upswing in the IPO market. Last month, several companies, including online broker eToro Group,  Hinge Health and MNTN, the connected TV advertising platform, each delivered strong debuts and each has maintained those gains in the aftermarket. The next big test for the IPO market will come with Chime, the neobank, which is scheduled to list its shares on June 12. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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