Walmart-Backed Ibotta Sees Share Price Leap 33% in Market Debut

Ibotta shares leapt 33% during their debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Thursday (April 18).

The stock debuted at $117 per share after pricing at $88 per share Wednesday (April 17), Axios reported Thursday. The firm raised $577.3 million.

Ibotta has raised its price Wednesday from an earlier price range of $76 to $84 per share.

The company’s strong market debut gave the Walmart-backed digital rewards firm a market valuation of $2.7 billion, according to the report.

The company will use the proceeds of its IPO to build out its artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled technology to deliver more capabilities to its advertisers and help them promote their products digitally, Ibotta CEO Bryan Leach told Reuters in a report posted Thursday.

Ibotta said April 8 that it aimed to raise $472 million through its IPO. On Tuesday (April 16), it raised that figure to around $551 million.

The company’s platform lets companies deliver digital promotions to more than 200 million consumers via the Ibotta Performance Network (IPN), a network of publishers that allows marketers to influence consumers’ shopping habits.

“Unlike other forms of advertising, we cut consumers in on the deal, meaning whenever someone buys a product in response to a promotion, we pass along a portion of our advertising fee in the form of a reward,” Leach said in a letter included with Ibotta’s initial filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“Because our offers are 100% digital, we can target promotions not merely based on what websites they have visited or where or when they have shopped, but based on which specific items they have bought in the past across a wide range of retailers, in-store or online. And we can tie everything out to a sale,” Leach added.

Ibotta is backed by Walmart and has more than 850 clients, including PepsiCo, Nestle and Coca-Cola. The company’s revenue grew 52% year-over-year in 2023, and its net income margin grew 12%.

The firm was valued at $1 billion in a Series D funding round in 2019.

PYMNTS reported Wednesday that the FinTech IPO Index shows that there are signs of a thaw after the FinTech funding winter.