Zillow raises $69M in public offering

Shares of real estate listings website Zillow.com have opened on the NASDAQ at $60 per share, technology blog TechCrunch.com reported, giving the company a $1.6 billion valuation. Zillow priced its initial public offering at $20 per share yesterday, after increasing the pricing of its IPO to $16 to $18 per share. The company raised $69 million in the offering.

Zillow is the third most visited real estate-related site in the U.S., according to Experian Hitwise, and received 5.36 percent of all real estate traffic in March, up 53 percent from March 2010. However, the company has been seeing losses in net income over the past three years, TechCrunch said.

In the three months ending March 31, Zillow generated revenue of $11.3 million, an increase of 111 percent from the same period in 2010.

Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff said the new funds will be used for headcount growth, especially for developers and salespeople.
“Becoming a public company puts us on a whole new stage,” he said, “It’s like being drafted into the major leagues.”

Earlier this year, Zillow partnered with Yahoo Real Estate and acquired Postlets, a real estate listing service.

Citigroup was the underwriter on the offering. [TechCrunch]