Shares of online coupon company RetailMeNot soar in debut

Shares of online coupon company RetailMeNot Inc rose as much as 33 percent in their market debut on Friday, the latest technology IPO to attract investor attention.

RetailMeNot's shares opened at $26.50 (17.35 pounds) on the Nasdaq and touched a high of $28.10, valuing the company at about $1.41 billion. The offering of 9.1 million shares was priced at $21 per share, the midpoint of the expected range, raising $191.1 million.

"Allocations were small and some people got no stock at all," said John Fitzgibbon, founder of IPOscoop.com.

"It is trading up sharp, which underscores there is strength in specialty technology deals."

The consumer e-commerce market is projected to more than double to 1.9 billion users between 2012 and 2017, according to market research firm IDC, a huge opportunity for companies such as RetailMeNot.

The Texas-based company connects consumers and retailers and offers digital coupons for everything from clothing, electronics, food and entertainment to personal and business services from over 60,000 retailers and brands.

RetailMeNot, backed by Google Ventures and Austin Ventures, said about 450 million people visited its digital coupon websites, including VoucherCodes.co.uk, Deals.com, Bons-De-Reduction.com, in 2012.

"Investors have higher expectation for growth of this category," said Francis Gaskins, a partner at IPO research company IPODesktop.com. "They can be successful in this space, but can attract quiet a bit of competition."

Shares of Groupon, whose CEO Andrew Mason was fired after the company suffered several quarters of losses, have lost more than half of their value, since their debut in November 2011.

RetailMeNot's revenue rose nearly eight fold to $144.7 million between 2010 and 2012. The company generates about 80 percent of its revenue from the United States.

The company, previously known as WhaleShark Media, is headed by a former chief operating officer of financial website Bankrate Inc, Cotter Cunningham.

Morgan Stanley, Goldman, Sachs and Credit Suisse Securities were the lead underwriters for the offering.

RetailMeNot shares were up 30 percent at $27.28 on the Nasdaq. More than 7 million shares changed hands by 1230 ET.

Shares of online coupon company RetailMeNot soar in debut

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