Blue Apron shares hovered near their IPO price in their first moments of trading on Thursday, rising almost 6 percent.
The start-up made its trading debut on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “APRN” on Thursday morning.
The company priced its IPO at $10 a share, the low end of the expected range between $10 and $11 per share. With an offering of 30 million shares, the company is looking to raise about $300 million in its IPO.
Amid growing concerns over the impact of tech giant Amazon’s pending acquisition of Whole Foods Market, the company lowered its expected IPO range to $10 to $11 a share on Wednesday, down from the $15 to $17 range it had initially forecast.
The move was unusual as only 4 percent of internet IPOs have revised their range downward since 2010, according to Dealogic.
Blue Apron is one of several start-ups attacking the food delivery business, but the first to IPO.
The unicorn start-up was valued around $2 billion in the private market, according to CB Insights estimates. Major investors include Fidelity, Bessemer Venture Parnters and First Round Capital. The company’s Series D round was priced around $13.33 a share in the private market, according to regulatory filings.
Blue Apron’s business focuses on delivering refrigerated, portioned ingredients for particular recipes.
About 12 percent of U.S. grocery shoppers bought their groceries online at some point in 2016, according to Cowen and Company.
But it’s a market that could potentially boom, according to research by NPD Group.
“It makes perfect sense that as online grocery shopping grows it will drive the adoption of meal kits,” Darren Seifer, food and beverage industry analyst at The NPD Group, said in a statement. “Online grocery shoppers can save time by not having to search through multiple websites, and they both work hand-in-hand in meeting the consumer’s need for convenience with the delivery of a fresh meal they can prepare at home.”
That said, there is fierce competition for those food delivery dollars, including from technology behemoth Amazon. Amazon agreed to buy Whole Foods in a $13.7 billion deal announced earlier this month. The acquisition builds on Amazon’s burgeoning grocery store business, and delivery business Amazon Fresh.
Blue Apron, meanwhile, has posted steeper net losses each year since 2014, according to regulatory filings. An expose by BuzzFeed News last fall highlighted extreme stress in Blue Apron’s packing facilities, where logistics were reportedly a struggle.
Rivals have had their fair share of strife.
Within the last two years, delivery app SpoonRocket was acquired, Danny Meyer-backed Umi Kitchen stalled out, citing “the trickiness of making delivery economics work out for everyone involved.” Instacart workers have staged public protests about falling tips, as the CEO is openly pinching pennies. Analysts have pushed back on Square’s Caviar business. GrubHub shares have been dinged by rumors that Facebook is entering food delivery.
— CNBC’s Leslie Picker contributed to this report.
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Meal-kit delivery service Blue Apron starts trading at a share in stock market debut