Next time a venture capitalist like Bill Gurley complains about the IPO process, expect them to use Lemonade’s IPO as Exhibit A. The insurance tech firm priced its IPO at $29 a share this week, implying a market capitalization well below its most recent private valuation of $2.1 billion.
Yet when Lemonade stock started trading Thursday morning, it quickly shot up to $65 and ended up closing just above $69—giving the company a market capitalization of about $3.8 billion.