Affirm quotes

US-based Affirm Holdings, which provides installment loans to online buyers, priced its initial public offering above the market range to raise $1.2bn, Bloomberg writes. The offering was led by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Allen Co.

Fintech listed on the NASDAQ exchange on 12 January. During the listing, the company sold 24.6 million shares at a higher price than it originally intended, at $49 apiece. The day before the IPO, the company raised its share price to $41-44 from $33-38 per share.

Affirm's share price soared 110.2% on the first day of trading. At the highs they were as high as $102.99 at offering price of $49. The securities finished the first trading session with 98.4% growth.

After the IPO, Affirm had a market valuation of $11.9bn and a diluted valuation of the company including options and restricted stock units (RSUs) approached $15bn.

Affirm was founded in 2012. Fintech allows online purchases to be made with deferred payment through a system of short-term consumer loans. Its net loss in 2020 was $15m on revenues of $174m, compared to a loss of $31m on revenues of $88m in the same period in 2019.

Affirm is just the first of several companies to launch their IPO as early as this week. They include used luxury goods trading platform Poshmark, pet retailer Petco Animal Supplies, mobile games operator Playtika Holdings and car service company Driven Brands Holdings.