(Reuters) - Online used car seller Vroom Inc on Friday increased the target range for its U.S. initial public offering, looking to raise up to $375 million, as the IPO market gathers steam after the COVID-19 pandemic put several debuts on hold.
The market for new issues has rebounded with Chinese online grocery firm Dada Nexus Ltd (O:DADA) and payments technology firm Shift4 Payments Inc (N:FOUR) set to start trading later in the day.
Auto retailers have been slow to embrace e-commerce, but the virus outbreak is forcing dealers to turn to digital tools to close deals without a handshake and arrange for vehicles to be picked up or delivered without requiring customers to visit stores.
Vroom plans to offer about 18.8 million shares at a price range of $18 to $20 as part of the IPO and is expecting a valuation of $2.25 billion at the top end of the range, according to a filing. (https://
The company earlier expected the offering to be priced between $15 and $17 per share.
Vroom, which filed to go public last month, has reported a more than two-fold rise in sales at its e-commerce business in the first quarter of 2020.
Net loss attributable to the company's common stockholders narrowed to nearly $41.1 million in the first quarter ended March 31, compared with $45.1 million a year earlier, while revenue jumped nearly 60%.
The company's 2019 total revenue rose about 39% to $1.19 billion.
Vroom plans to list its shares on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol "VRM".