Carvana Rival Vroom Raises $467.5M In IPO As Online Auto Retail Business Sees Surge

Vroom Inc. on Monday raised $467.5 million in its initial public offering.

What Happened

The online auto retailer said it sold 21.2 million shares priced at $22 each.

Underwriters for the IPO, including have an additional option to purchase shares worth $70.1 million within a 30-day period.

Subsidiaries of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS, Bank of America Corp. BAC, Wells Fargo & Co. WFC are serving as joint-lead book running managers and serving as representatives of the underwriters, Vroom said.

The shares of Vroom will list at Nasdaq Stock Market on Tuesday under the ticker "VRM."

Why It Matters

Vroom is going public at a time when the online auto retailing business has seen a surge in business due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

"The market is placing a high value on next-generation companies that can thrive in a post-COVID economy," Matthew Kennedy, a senior IPO market strategist with Renaissance Capital, told MarketWatch. "Vroom falls into that category."

The IPO market is starting to make a comeback after being quite so far due to the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

Record label company Warner Music Group Corp. WMG raised $1.925 billion in the largest IPO last week, and business database provider ZoomInfo Technologies Inc. ZI raised $935 million.

Rival Carvana Co. CVNA, which went public back in April 2017, has seen its shares jump 23.45% this year at $113.64.