Line Corp. (NYSE: LN), the Japanese company behind the popular messaging app, soared Thursday in its debut as a public company, rising 26.6% on volume of nearly 29 million shares in what was this year’s biggest initial public offering.
On the back of its impressive first day performance, Line has already found at least one home in the world of exchange traded funds. The Renaissance IPO ETF (NYSEArca: IPO) confirmed it will add shares of the messaging company.
Related: IPO ETF Adds Ferrari
“LINE is going public with a market cap of $7.6 billion which qualifies the company for inclusion into the Renaissance IPO ETF at the market’s close on Wednesday July 20th,” according to a statement issued by Connecticut-based Renaissance Capital.
[related_stories]“Line launched in Japan in 2011 and had more than 200 million monthly active users in March, with a strong presence in Asia, the company said. It competes with Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp and is used in 230 countries,” reports Business Insider.
IPO “is a portfolio of the largest, most liquid U.S.-listed newly public companies prior to their inclusion in core U.S. equity portfolios. IPOs that pass Renaissance Capital’s formulated screening process are weighted by investable market capitalization, capped at 10% and removed after two years,” according Renaissance Capital.
Related: Revisiting Technology ETFs
Due to its indexing flexibility that allows for the inclusion of some IPOs after their fifth day of trading, the Renaissance Capital ETF will be among the earliest holders of Line shares. Line currently is not profitable, but this is not stopping investors from being optimistic about the company’s growth prospects.
“Line has something U.S.-based messengers don’t: 8.4 million people a month who pay for stickers and 1.6 million paying players of Line-branded games that are only available to the owners of Line accounts. It has also experimented with taxi services, mobile commerce, payments and grocery deliveries,” according to Bloomberg.
