Reddit’s public market debut on Thursday, below ticker image “RDDT,” would be the first for a significant social media firm since Pinterest’s debut in 2019 and one of many only a few venture-backed tech offers of the previous two years. Reddit offered 15.28 million shares within the providing, whereas present shareholders offered one other 6.72 million.The corporate is taking a haircut from its personal market valuation of $10 billion in 2021 on the peak of the tech growth. Hovering inflation and rising rates of interest pushed traders out of dangerous belongings in 2022, ultimately forcing startups to downsize, slash their valuations and deal with revenue over progress.On Wednesday, information heart {hardware} firm Astera Labs went public, and noticed its shares skyrocket 72%, as traders flock to something involving synthetic intelligence. Nevertheless, the IPO market has been in an prolonged dry spell for greater than two years, with Instacart, Klaviyo and Arm Holdings among the many few tech corporations to carry choices over that stretch. Reddit’s core enterprise of internet advertising faces competitors from business giants like Alphabet and Meta. The corporate additionally counts Snap, X, Pinterest, Discord, Wikipedia and Amazon’s Twitch streaming service as opponents, based on its prospectus.Income elevated 20% final 12 months to $804 from $666.7 million in 2022. Its internet loss in 2023 was $90.8 million, marking an enchancment from the $158.6 million internet loss it recorded in 2022.The corporate has mentioned in filings that information licensing might grow to be a giant cash maker, and that it plans to acknowledge about $66.4 million in such offers in 2024. The corporate not too long ago entered an expanded partnership with Google, permitting the search large extra entry to Reddit information to coach AI fashions and different duties.Final week, Reddit mentioned the Federal Commerce Fee despatched a letter to the corporate inquiring about its data-licensing practices.As a part of the IPO, Reddit provided a few of its main moderators and customers, often known as Redditors, an opportunity to purchase inventory by way of a directed-share program. It is a mannequin that was beforehand utilized by Airbnb, Doximity and Rivian to reward their energy customers and clients.WATCH: What a Reddit IPO would imply for capital markets.