TOKYO (AFP) – Flea market app Mercari soared yesterday as it debuted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, a major success for a rare Japanese “unicorn” – a start-up valued over $1 billion.
The company initially priced its stock at 3,000 yen ($27.30) a share, at the top of a prospective range.
But that price was quickly surpassed yesterday, with shares trading at around 5,300 yen at the close, valuing the firm at over 700 billion yen ($6.37 billion).
“Mercari got off to a flying start” with investors impressed by its successful business model, Shinichi Yamamoto, a broker at Okasan Securities, told AFP.
The online marketplace, started in 2013, allows users to buy and sell everything from clothes and electronic goods to event tickets.
Payment is not validated until the purchased item is received by the buyer, which has reassured users wary of buying second-hand goods online.
Mercari has attracted international attention for its steady growth. It says it has around one million products on sale on any given day and generates $100 million a month in transactions globally.
“We felt it was the right moment to go public,” founder Shintaro Yamada said at a press conference yesterday afternoon.
