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Hypebeast, the eleven-year-old fashion and footwear website founded by Kevin Ma, just saw a record setting initial public offering today in Hong Kong closing up 708% from the opening price of 13 cents closing at $1.08HK per share.
Hypebeast was trading up more than eight-fold at Monday’s close, bringing a valuation of HK$2.1 billion ($270 million US) on the decade old company. This marks Asia’s best first-day performance in 2016, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. At one point in the day, Hypebeast jumped as much as 2,000 percent on Hong Kong’s Growth Enterprise Market.
Chief Executive Officer Kevin Ma founded the company from his bedroom in 2005 to indulge a passion for athletic footwear. He spent an inordinate amount of time online compiling new tidbits on sneakers before starting Hypebeast, slang for someone who buys into the buzz but not the product itself, according to the company. The site has since morphed into a family of websites and an online store that generated HK$99 million of revenue in the year ended March 2015.
The company now hopes to expand into other regional markets and plans to focus on improving content and marketing.
Congratulations to Kevin Ma and the Hypebeast team!
