Walmart-backed Ibotta shares surge on debut

NEW YORK — Ibotta, a Walmart-backed digital company that offers customers cash back rewards and discounts on grocery brands like Nestlé and Coca-Cola, saw its shares jump 17% in its Wall Street debut.

The stock, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “IBTA,” opened Thursday at $117, well above its offering price of $88. By mid-afternoon trading, the stock had lost some steam, closing at $103.25, which gives it a market value of more than $3 billion.

Ibotta joins a handful of tech companies, including Instacart and Reddit, to debut on the public markets. In September last year, grocery delivery company Instacart’s stock price closed up 12.3% on Nasdaq, giving the company a market value of more than $11 billion. Reddit debuted on Wall Street in March and its shares soared, with investors pushing its market value to nearly $9 billion seconds after the company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Founded in 2011 by attorney Bryan Leach, Denver-based Ibotta works with more than 850 different clients and represents 2,400 consumer brands, according to a prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Walmart, Family Dollar, Kroger and other major retailers use its artificial intelligence software, which can offer promotions that match customer purchasing behavior.

Ibotta said customers only get paid when they see the company’s promotions and lead to a sale. These customers can earn cash back every time they purchase something in a participating brand’s store or app, and have the funds deposited into their bank account or used on gift cards. Ibotta said in its filing that it has returned more than $1.8 billion to customers since 2012.

The company had sales of $320 million last year and a net profit of $38 million. This compares with a net loss of $55 million and revenue of $211 million in 2022, according to the prospectus.

Walmart is one of the shareholders holding 5% or more of the company’s shares.

Ibotta sold 2.5 million shares. The company plans to use the net proceeds (estimated at $198 million assuming an IPO price of $88) for general corporate purposes, including working capital and capital expenditures. An additional 4.1 million shares will be issued to the selling shareholders, but Ibotta will not receive proceeds from the sales.

The company has two classes of stock, and Leach, who also serves as president and CEO, owns approximately 70% of the total voting power of the company’s stock.

This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.