Etsy Inc priced its initial public offering (IPO) at $16 per share, valuing the e-commerce website at around $1.78 billion. An IPO is when shares of a business become available for the public to purchase – converting it into a public company.
The online retailer of handmade goods raised $267 million by selling 16.7 million shares.
Etsy is offering 13.33 million shares, and 3.33 million shares are being sold by shareholders, including venture capital firm Accel Partners.
Etsy is a peer-to-peer (P2P) e-commerce website.
Etsy will begin trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange on April 16 under the symbol “ETSY”.
According to an SEC filing, Etsy has 54 million members, 1.4 million active sellers and 19.8 million buyers as of December.
Etsy was founded in 2005 in Brooklyn, New York City, USA. It currently generates most of its revenue from listing fees and commissions on the sale of items and from its advertising platform.
The company’s major investors include, Tiger Global Management, Union Square Ventures, and Index Ventures.
The offering is expected to close on April 21, 2015, and is subject to customary closing conditions.
Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. Allen & Company LLC, Loop Capital Markets LLC and The Williams Capital Group, L.P. are acting as co-managers.
The company posted a 56.4 percent increase in revenue last year to $195.59 million and its net loss widened to $15.24 million in 2014 from $796,000 a year earlier.
