Photo taken on Sept. 18, 2019 shows US dollar banknotes in Washington D.C., the United States. (Photo: Xinhua)

Affirm Holdings Inc, a US provider of installment loans to online shoppers, said on Wednesday it sold shares in its IPO at $49 apiece, above its target range, to raise $1.2 billion.

Affirm said it offered 24.6 million shares of its Class A common stock, and that the shares will trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol "AFRM".

Affirm, founded by PayPal Holdings Inc co-founder Max Levchin, had planned to sell 24.6 million shares at a target price range of between $41 and $44 each. The IPO, the largest US listing so far in 2021, signals that investor appetite for new stocks remains robust following a stellar 2020, which was the strongest IPO market in two decades.

Levchin founded Affirm in 2012 to offer easily accessible financing targeted at mostly young online shoppers, who pay back in monthly installments. The company generated revenue of $174 million in the three months ended September 2020, up 98 percent from the previous year. Its net losses narrowed to $15.3 million compared with $30.7 million. As of June 2020, Affirm had $1.1 billion in debt.

Besides Levchin, Affirm's major investors include Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, venture capital firms Khosla Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Funds, and Canadian e-commerce firm Shopify Inc.

Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Allen & Co were the lead underwriters for Affirm's offering.

Reuters