Sonder Underwhelms in Public Debut
Photo Credit: The Sonder Europa in Washington, D.C. Sonder debuted on Nasdaq January 14, 2022. Sonder
Skift Take
Sonder's delayed stock market debut came to be, finally. Now with a $310 million injection of proceeds from private investors, and tapping into a $165 million credit line, the company can go about its business trying to build the next household name hospitality brand.
Sonder, the San Francisco-based startup that operates hotels and leases apartment buildings for short-term rentals, made its stock market debut Wednesday in a special purpose acquisition company merger, and saw its share price drop about 8 percent.
The Nasdaq, where Sonder trades, was slightly down, 1.6 percent for the day.
Founded in 2014 by Francis Davidson, Lucas Pellan, and Martin Picard, Sonder merged with the Gores Metropoulos II SPAC, and Sonder's common stock began trading at $8.95 per share under the symbol SOND on Nasdaq. The transaction closed Tuesday after the SPAC's shareholder approved the merger January 14.
Sonder announced in October that it would begin its life as a public company with a $1.925 billion valuation, having lowered it from an earlier $2.2 billi
