Etsy is known for its distinctive small sellers, who offer everything from crocheted penguins to furniture
Shares in arts and crafts marketplace Etsy surged 88% in their US market debut, valuing the 10-year-old Brooklyn firm at nearly $3.3bn (£2.2bn).
Late on Wednesday, the firm priced its shares at $16, higher than expected due to investor interest.
Etsy customers bought nearly $2bn worth of goods last year.
However, the firm has yet to turn a profit - and warns it may never do so, due to its commitment to social responsibility.
In a blog post, boss Chad Dickerson said that the investors who decide to buy shares in the firm understood that the company was focused on more than just profits.
"The investors we met on the roadshow understand that the key to Etsy's long-term success is building on and extending what has made Etsy successful to date: an inspired community of creative entrepreneurs, buyers who want to buy unique merchandise that they can't find anywhere else, and a values-led community-based business that focuses on the long term," he wrote, external.
Investors were keen to get a share of the offering despite the firm's ethos.
Etsy reserved 15% of the shares it sold to smaller buyers, such as its sellers, who could purchase up to $2,500 worth of stock.
The shares trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol ETSY.
- Published16 April 2015
- Published16 April 2015
