Affirm goes public. The payments unicorn began offering its shares to the public on Wednesday. The company announced its initial public offering of 24.6 million shares of stock at a price of $49 per share, with the shares trading under the ticker symbol AFRM. By mid-day, share prices were trading at over $100. The company closed out the day at $97.24 per share with a market value totaling $23.6 billion.
The announcement follows a prosperous year for the payments company. Less than four months ago Affirm raised $500 million in a Series G round led by GIC, and the company is now hiring for dozens of open positions based out of its SF headquarters. [Built In SF]
Poshmark goes public. Online retailer Poshmark made its market debut on Thursday. Shares in the company ended the day up more than 141 percent. The company priced its IPO at $42 a share and the stock began trading at $97.50 per share. Founded in 2011, Poshmark is an online marketplace for second-hand clothing, shoes and accessories. The company was last valued at $600 million following its Series D in November of 2017. [CNBC]
Qualcomm acquires NUVIA. 5G leader Qualcomm Technologies entered into a definitive agreement to acquire NUVIA for $1.4 billion. NUVIA’s central processing units (CPUs) are expected to be integrated across all Qualcomm products. The acquisition will help Qualcomm power more smartphones, laptops, digital cockpits and advanced driver assistance systems. Qualcomm is partnered with numerous industry leaders to expand 5G networks and technology including Microsoft, Google and Samsung. [Qualcomm]
There’s no place like home. Airbnb announced it would cancel and block all reservations in the Washington, D.C., metro area during the week of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. Guests who had reservations will be refunded in full and hosts will be reimbursed with the money that would have been earned from the canceled reservations. The announcement comes amid concern of more far-right violence in the Capitol during this week’s inaugural festivities. The company previously said it would ban individuals who were involved with the Capitol riot on January 6 and/or are associated with known hate groups. [CNBC]
Veeva becomes a PBC. Veeva will become a public benefit corporation on February 1. The latest move on behalf of the cloud-based software leader will make it the first publicly traded company to convert to a PBC, according to the company. As a PBC, Veeva will remain a for-profit corporation but will be legally responsible to balance the interests of numerous stakeholders, including customers, employees, partners, and shareholders. The company also announced that its proposal to declassify its board of directors received near unanimous approval by shareholders. [Veeva]
The world’s most expensive breakup. Almost exactly a year after finance giant Visa announced its plans to merge with fintech startup Plaid, the two companies said last week that they were calling it quits. The $5.3 billion deal fell through amid antitrust scrutiny by the U.S. federal government. In November, the Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit on the grounds that the acquisition would limit competition in the payments industry. Plaid uses APIs to connect consumer bank accounts to popular finance apps like Venmo or Robinhood. [Crunchbase]
