After months of skepticism and criticism, daily deal company Groupon apparently did something to excite investors.
As first reported by Kara Swisher, the company not only priced its IPO above the proposed $16-$18 range, but also added an extra 5 million shares.
The $20 per share price would bring the total offering value to $700 million. That’s just a shade below the $750 million it targeted back in June, and would give the Chicago-based daily deals company an initial market cap of approximately $12.65 billion. That would rank its market cap at #323 among all U.S. stocks.
When Groupon last raised money in the private markets, it was done at a post-money valuation south of $5 billion. The vast majority of that round — a $950 million Series E deal this past January — was used to provide liquidity to early investors and employees.
Overall, Groupon had raised over $560 million in direct venture capital, from firms like Accel Partners and New Enterprise Associates.
Morgan Stanley (MS) was the offering’s lead underwriter, and was joined by Goldman Sachs (GS), Credit Suisse and 11 other banks.
Groupon (GRPN) is expected to begin trading tomorrow morning on the Nasdaq.
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