Shares of solar panel installer, sales and leasing company SolarCity (SCTY) had a stellar Nasdaq debut Thursday, climbing from $8 to end the day at $11.79, a 47 percent gain.
Investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, DBL, and SolarCity chairman and main backer Elon Musk purchased a third of the available 11.4 million shares. SolarCity raised $92 million in the offering, and closed the day with a $585 million market cap.
The company has had no trouble getting investor and media attention, thanks in part to its chairman and largest shareholder, Tesla Motors (TSLA) and SpaceX CEO Musk. Musk’s cousins Lyndon Rive and Peter Rive co-founded the solar company in 2006.
SolarCity’s successful IPO is a positive note in an otherwise very rough patch for green tech investments. First there was Solyndra’s high-profile bankruptcy in 2011, which chased a lot of investors away from solar. In April, solar thermal power plant startup BrightSource Energy pulled its IPO, saying it couldn’t get the valuation it wanted.
SolarCity had its own pricing problems, cutting the offer price of its shares by almost half, from a high of $15 to $8, the day before it began trading. With Thursday’s positive performance, it seems the discount share price approach was the right one.
Sarah is a reporter for Wired Business. Pitch her funding and startup news at sarah_mitroff at wired dot com.
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SolarCity Market Debut Is All Sunshine
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SolarCity Market Debut Is All Sunshine
