Shares of Sonos Inc rose as much as 34 percent to $20.20 in their market debut on Thursday, at which the US wireless audio systems maker has a market value of nearly $1.9 billion. The stock opened at $16, about 7 percent above the initial public offering (IPO) price of $15 per share.
The IPO was priced below the target range of $17-$19 per share on Wednesday, signaling that investors are selective about backing stock market hopefuls in the technology sector. "We definitely felt some nervousness from investors as we hit what seemed like some down days on the Nasdaq and we kind of got caught up in that," said Patrick Spence, chief executive officer at Sonos. "It's one day in the grand scheme of things."
Sonos' offering of about 5.6 million shares raised $83.3 million. Existing Sonos shareholders, which include investment firm KKR & Co, sold an additional 8.3 million shares. Sonos' IPO follows other successful technology listings this year, including those of Spotify Technology SA, Dropbox Inc and DocuSign Inc.