(Reuters) -FIGS Inc made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, giving the maker of medical scrubs, face masks and shields a valuation of $4.57 billion.
The company, which saw a jump in demand for its products during the COVID-19 pandemic, makes medical apparel aimed at combining style with comfort, sold under the tagline, “why wear scrubs, when you can #wearFIGS?”
Co-founders Heather Hasson and Trina Spear said they never considered taking FIGS public through the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) or direct listing route.
“We were very focused on going public the traditional way… and we even partnered with Robinhood because we wanted to give healthcare professionals access to invest in the IPO,” Spear told Reuters in an interview.
The co-founders said they plan on using the funds raised from the initial public offering to invest in designing new products, marketing the company’s brand and data analytics.
The company’s shares opened at $28.30, up 28.6% from the IPO price of $22.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant, Arunima Kumar and Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni and Shailesh Kuber)
