Affirm shares soared as the company made its official trading debut on the Nasdaq, opening at $90.90, well above its IPO pricing of $49.
At one point on Wednesday afternoon, shares of the buy now, pay later fintech company were up more than 100 percent, hitting as high as $103.
"We're just really excited for what this means for us," Michael Linford, chief financial officer for Affirm, told Cheddar minutes after the debut. "Our ability now to go out, focus on scaling our network, adding merchants, building great technology products for merchants and consumers alike is really aided by this capital raise."
Affirm notes it currently has more than 6.2 million consumers in the U.S. and is available at checkout at more than 6,500 merchants. Those companies include big names like Peloton, Casper, Gucci, TheRealReal, and more.
Its service works as an alternative to credit cards, letting e-commerce customers pay in installments. Linford said the tech platform particularly resonates with Gen Z and millennial consumers.
E-commerce has boomed during the pandemic as lockdowns forced many consumers to shop online instead of in stores.
"We think this is a great time to be a public company," Linford said. "The public equity markets are clearly receptive to growth companies like ours. They understand the story of Affirm. We sit very well situated in helping e-commerce merchants in particular, but merchants overall drive real results for their business."