Coinbase Trades Up on Nasdaq, Briefly Tops $ 100 Billion in Valuation
April 14, 2021 @ 10:21 pm By JD Alois
Coinbase, perhaps the most anticipated public listing of 2021, commenced trading on the Nasdaq today following a direct listing that started with a reference per-share value of $250 and quickly went higher from there. Listed under the ticker symbol COIN, Coinbase traded as high as $429 a share easily giving the company a $100 billion-plus valuation. Coinbase closed at around $328 a share in active trading, substantially higher than the reference price.
Coinbase started life in 2012 founded by CEO
Brian Armstrong, who was later joined by
Fred Ehrsam. Initially, Coinbase received $150,000 in funding from
Crazy for crypto or not: Seattle VCs sound off on tech’s hottest topic following Coinbase IPO
April 15, 2021 at 11:58 am
Sometimes, making an exception can pay off.
That’s what happened to Version One Ventures, which typically invests in early-stage startups but veered off course to make a bet on a fast-growing cryptocurrency company four years ago.
That investment in Coinbase “ended up as a multiple fund maker,” noted Version One General Partner Boris Wertz, who started the firm out of Vancouver, B.C. in 2012. Verison One invested in Coinbase partly because it believed blockchain/crypto would be the next computing platform.
What Happened:
Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) closed its first day of trading as a public company at a valuation of $85.7 billion.
The crypto exchange’s massive valuation eclipsed all other direct listings, including
Roblox Corp (NYSE:RBLX),
Spotify Technology SA (NYSE:SPOT), and
Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR), becoming the largest direct listing to date.
Why It Matters: While this was surely a monumental moment for the entire crypto industry, the company, which was launched out of a two-bedroom apartment, is an all-around success story.
Apart from Coinbase’s founders and internal stakeholders, the key beneficiaries of this success story were the company’s earliest investors, with some making 8000 times their initial investment.
Here are some of the biggest winners from Coinbase s blockbuster direct listing bizjournals.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bizjournals.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.