Sweetgreen's IPO Is Done: Salad Slinger's Shares Pop 76% in First Day on the NYSE

Harri Weber

Harri is dot.LA's senior finance reporter. She previously worked for Gizmodo, Fast Company, VentureBeat and Flipboard. Find her on Twitter and send tips on L.A. startups and venture capital to harrison@dot.la.

Sweetgreen's IPO Is Done: Salad Slinger's Shares Pop 76% in First Day on the NYSE

Investors tucked away Sweetgreen shares by the forkful on Thursday, driving the price of the salad chain's stock up more than 76% to a closing price of $49.50 per share.

The Culver City company raised $364 million in its New York Stock Exchange debut, selling 13 million shares at $28 a pop. Originally, the company had targeted a price per share of $25 at the high end.


Following the debut, the stock soared as high as $56.20 per share during regular trading, despite the company's dearth of profits.

Shortly after the IPO, Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman said the company's mission is "to transform fast food and make it healthy." However, critics have called Neman's views on health fatphobic. The executive came under fire recently after claiming "no vaccine nor mask will save us" in a since-deleted LinkedIn post, which ultimately argued that what Americans should do is eat the kind of food that Sweetgreen sells.

But for a salad business, Sweetgreen also looks a lot like a tech company. Ahead of the IPO, the company described itself as a "digital platform," a "multi-channel restaurant ecosystem," and even a content creator — all phrases more evocative of Silicon Valley than a salad bar.

Trading under the symbol SG, Sweetgreen aims to double in size over the next five years. Pandemic lockdowns hammered the company last year, leading to significant layoffs at its L.A. headquarters. However, sales rebounded in the runup to the chain's IPO.

Subscribe to our newsletter to catch every headline.

Office Hours: Apex Founder Ian Cinnamon on Why LA Is the Aerospace Capital of the World

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

​Ian Cinnamon
Ian Cinnamon

On this episode of Office Hours, Apex founder and CEO Ian Cinnamon discusses the importance of investing in space exploration and shares his thoughts on the evolving space ecosystem in Los Angeles.


Read moreShow less
https://twitter.com/spencerrascoff
https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerrascoff/
admin@dot.la

This Week in ‘Raises’: Measurabl Snags $93M, Selva Ventures Grabs $34M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
Image by Joshua Letona

A local data management platform company lands fresh funding to help commercial real estate owners reduce carbon footprint, while one Los Angeles-based venture firm closes its second fund to accelerate the growth of emerging companies across health, wellness, beauty and personal care.

***

Read moreShow less

McKinsey & Company Launches InLA Accelerator To Help Underrepresented Founders Tackle Startup Challenges

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

McKinsey & Company Launches InLA Accelerator To Help Underrepresented Founders Tackle Startup Challenges
InLA

In 2022, female founders saw a 28% decline in overall U.S. funding, while Black-led startups saw a 38% decline in total capital received. In an effort to increase funding for minority-led startups, global venture firm McKinsey & Company is launching InLA, an accelerator program for underrepresented founders.

“This effort is something that the firm has been really excited about for a long time,” Engagement Manager Elkhyn Rivas Rodriguez said. “There's obviously a meaningful and growing startup community out here and just from a diversity standpoint, LA is incredibly diverse and multi-ethnic and multicultural. So we think that there will be a really great pool of potential companies to partner with.”

Read moreShow less
RELATEDEDITOR'S PICKS
LA TECH JOBS
interchangeLA
Trending