Today OpenTable (Nasdaq: OPEN) had a successful IPO allowing VCs to recoup investment dollars. This statement could be one of the most important you can imagine for the tech sector as it signals the IPO market is no longer frozen and in fact the stock was up to $31.89 as of this writing and was planned to price between $16-$18. This number in fact represents an 88% increase over the average $17 price! This as you imagine is the best IPO in some time - 18 months to be exact.
Not surprisingly, this price increase reminds some of the dotcom boom and it does indicate that there is an appetite (pun sort of intended) for tech IPOs if the company has a business model which people think makes sense.
But then again, you could argue the state of the restaurant market is so bad at the moment that this IPO shouldn't have received any premium at all. And with this in mind, the tech IPO market could have a lot more potential than you may think. For the moment at least, investors are willing to discount the negative effects of the economy on entire sectors in exchange for the potential of future growth.
It is obviously worth mentioning the other tech IPO of the week -- SolarWinds had a successful IPO as the original price average set was $10.50 and as of this writing the stock is trading at $13.79 or a 31% increase.
While we can't expect investor checkbooks to open overnight as a result of this news - we need to realize there has been unprecedented wealth destruction in the past two years, this news could signal we are on the leading edge of a healthier tech IPO market. Certainly this could be great news for Skype as they should be going public next year.
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