Shares of DoorDash Inc. soared on their first day of trading on Wednesday, after the “gig” company completed one of the largest initial public offerings in a busy year.
DoorDash DASH,
valued its shares above a high range, then started trading at $ 182 on Wednesday morning, up 78.2% from its IPO price of $ 102. The San Francisco-based company, which launched its service in suburban Silicon Valley in 2013 and now controls half of the U.S. app-based food delivery market, has raised at least $ 3 billion for a valuation of over $ 32 billion.
See: 5 Things To Know About DoorDash As It Goes Public
DoorDash confidentially filed a public offering in February, just before the coronavirus pandemic shut down almost everything and demand for delivery skyrocketed. Months later, it’s the latest company to profit from a hot IPO market after becoming one of the biggest beneficiaries of a lifestyle and economy that has been drastically changed by COVID. -19.
Now the question is whether it can continue to grow and maintain its gains. In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday morning, DoorDash chief executive Tony Xu said the company was just getting started.
“We are in one of the most important categories but still the most under-penetrated, ”Xu said, noting that only 10% of restaurant traffic is delivered today. The company is also branching out into the delivery of groceries and more.
See: The pandemic has more than doubled the activity of food delivery apps
Prior to the offer, DoorDash’s major shareholders were the original investors SoftBank Vision Fund, which held 24.9% in Class A shares, Sequoia Capital with 20.4% and Greenview Investment with 10.5%. Due to the company’s share structure, which gives 20 votes to each Class B share, Xu and co-founders Andy Fang and Stanley Tang will have 69% control of the votes.
The co-founders were joined by a couple of delivery people, which the company calls Dashers, and trading partners in a virtual ringtone Wednesday morning on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company, which together with Uber Technologies Inc. UBER,
Lyft Inc. LYFT,
and other concert companies recently spent more than $ 200 million to pass a voting measure in California to avoid classifying their drivers and delivery people as employees, said the U.S. Dashers who made at least 5,000 deliveries will receive “cash rewards” ranging from $ 500 to $ 20,000. The amounts will be based on the number of workers’ deliveries and will appear in their accounts by Friday.
Dashers in Canada and Australia will also receive money based on different criteria. Performing workers will receive more money through this program until May, DoorDash said.
