1stdibs, a US-based designers’ items e-commerce platform backed by e-commerce group Alibaba and fashion and luxury group Groupe Artémis, floated in a $115m initial public offering on Wednesday.
The company issued 5.75 million shares on the Nasdaq Global Market priced at $20 apiece, having initially set an $18 to $21 price range. Shares closed at $28.50 on the first day of trading.
The company had first filed in May this year with a placeholder figure of $100m.
Founded in 2000, 1stdibs operates a digital marketplace that lists high-end goods including art, furniture, jewellery, watches and vintage collectibles.
The company’s net revenue jumped to $81.9m in 2020 from $70.6m the year before, and it booked a net loss of $12.5m last year, compared to $29.9m in 2019.
1stdibs intends to invest proceeds in areas including sales and marketing efforts and technology innovation, in addition to potentially acquiring relevant businesses, products, services or technologies.
The company had raised some $170m in total primary funding, having closed a $76m series D round in early 2019 featuring Groupe Artémis. Accounts advised by T Rowe Price Group led the round, which also featured Foxhaven Asset Management, Sofina, Allen & Company and Michael Zeisser.
Insight Venture Partners provided between $50m and $60m for 1stdibs in 2015, the year after Alibaba injected $15m into a series C round.
The 2015 round was reportedly raised at a $300m valuation and included a secondary transaction, in which Insight bought a stake from 1stdibs founder Michael Bruno.
Benchmark, Index Ventures and Spark Capital all took part in a $42m series B round in 2012, which came in the wake of a $60m round the year before backed by Benchmark.
Benchmark Capital and Insight Partners now respectively own 19.9% and 13.8%. Other notable shareholders include Spark Capital (7.6%), T Rowe Price (7.3%), Sofina Partners (7.1%) and Index Ventures (5.2%).
BofA Securities and Barclays are the lead underwriters for the offering, and they are joined by joint bookrunners Allen & Company and Evercore ISI. William Blair, Raymond James and JMP Securities are serving as co-managers.
The underwriters have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 862,500 shares.
