OpenTable Shares Surge After IPO

Updated from 1:02 p.m. EDT

OpenTable (OPEN:Nasdaq) became the latest company to have its initial public offering price above its expected range, and its shares were surging in their debut Thursday.

The San Francisco-based restaurant reservation Web site raised $60 million on Wednesday by offering 3 million shares at $20 each. OpenTable offered about 1.57 million shares of common stock, and selling stockholders offered the remaining 1.42 million shares.

Shares rose as high as $35.50 earlier in the session before finishing up 59.5% at $31.89.

The IPO is significant for a handful of reasons. For one, shares priced 18% above the midpoint of the expected range of $16 to $18 a share. What makes that all the more impressive is that OpenTable originally had expected shares to price between $12 and $14 a share before it increased the expected range on Tuesday.

OpenTable also becomes the second venture capital-backed company to go public this week. On Wednesday, SolarWinds (SWI), a network management software provider backed by Bain Capital, Insight Ventures and Austin Ventures, debuted after its IPO priced at $12.50 a share, above the expected range of $9.50 to $11.50 a share.

SolarWinds enjoyed a first-day return of 10%, as shares closed Wednesday at $13.75.

Like SolarWinds, OpenTable has been backed by venture capital money. Its investors include Benchmark Capital, whose past investments include eBay (EBAY) and Red Hat Software (RHT). Impact Venture Partners and Integral Capital Partners are also investors in the Internet company.