Slide Show: Top IPO Pops By Venture-Backed Companies-Updated

LinkedIn is the darling of the market, pricing its IPO Wednesday at $45 and closing its first day of trading Thursday at $94.25, up 109%.

But this is a big yawn compared to the days of the dotcom bubble. To put this in perspective, we thought we would look back at the top first-day pops by venture capital-backed IPOs, dating back to 1990.

This slide show is a countdown, presented ranked by first-day percentage gain.

Source: Thomson Reuters

[slideshow]

[slide title=”10 – Avanex Corp.”]

Optical components for telecom
Ticker: AVNX
Date: Feb. 4, 2000
IPO Price: $36.00
First-Day Closing Price: $172.00
Gain: 377.8%
Closing Price Thursday: NA (merged with Bookham Inc. in April 2009 to form Oclaro Inc.; $9.81 at Thursday’s close)
Backers: Crosspoint Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, Sequoia Capital, U.S. Technologies Inc., Globespan Capital Partners

[slide title=”9 – Sycamore Networks Inc.”]

Switches, routers, gateways
Ticker: SCMR
Date: Oct. 22, 1999
IPO Price: $38.00
First-Day Closing Price: $184.75
Gain: 386.2%
Closing Price Thursday: $22.87
Backers: Matrix Partners, Integral Capital Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners, Amerindo Investment Advisors Inc., Bowman Capital Management, Siemens Venture Capital GmbH, FirstMark Capital LLC

[slide title=”8 – Blue Coat Systems inc.”]

Network management
Ticker: BCSI
Date: Nov. 19, 1999
IPO Price: $24.00
First-Day Closing Price: $126.38
Gain: 426.6%
Closing Price Thursday: $24.38
Backers: Sequoia Capital, Sprout Group, U.S. Venture Partners, Benchmark Capital, Technology Crossover Ventures, Francisco Partners

[slide title=”7 – Akamai Technologies Inc.”]

Internet technology
Ticker: AKAM
Date: Oct. 29, 1999
IPO Price: $26.00
First-Day Closing Price: $145.188
Gain: 458.4%
Closing Price Thursday: $32.65
Backers: Apple Inc., Battery Ventures LP, Microsoft Corp., TCW Capital, Polaris Venture Partners, Baker Capital Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., WestBridge Ventures LLC

[slide title=”6 – Cobalt Networks”]

Servers
Ticker: COBT
Date: Nov. 5, 1999
IPO Price: $22.00
First-Day Closing Price: $128.125
Gain: 482.4%
Closing Price Thursday: NA (Acquired in December 2000 by Sun Microsystems)
Backers: Partners of Alex Brown, General Electric Pension Trust, Technology Funding, Tech Ventures Inc., Vanguard Ventures, HLM Venture Partners, Innovacom SA, August Capital Management, J.P. Morgan Partners, Crystal Internet Venture Fund LP, Embarcadero Funds (FKA: Van Wagoner Funds),
J&W Seligman & Co., Orien Funds I/II, FirstMark Capital LLC

[slide title=”5 – FreeMarkets Inc.”]

Web portal
Ticker: FMKT
Date: Dec. 10, 1999
IPO Price: $48.00
First-Day Closing Price: $280.00
Gain: 483.3%
Closing Price Thursday: NA (Acquired in 2004 by Ariba Inc.)
Backers: Goldman, Sachs & Co. United Technologies Corp. Pension Fund, Saturn Capital Partners LLC

[slide title=”4 – webMethods Inc.”]

E-commerce software
Ticker: WEBM
Date: Feb. 11, 2000
IPO Price: $35.00
First-Day Closing Price: $212.63
Gain: 507.5%
Closing Price Thursday: NA (Acquired in 2007 by Software AG)
Backers: Goldman, Sachs & Co., Mayfield Fund, FBR Venture Capital Managers Inc., Dell Ventures, NextPoint Partners LP, Eastman Ventures, SAP Ventures

[slide title=”3 – Viador”]

Web-based business intelligence
Ticker: VIAD
Date: Oct. 29, 1999
IPO Price: $9.00
First-Day Closing Price: $55.375
Gain: 515.3%
Closing Price Thursday: NA (Went private in March 2003)
Backers: Information Technology Ventures, JK&B Capital

[slide title=”2 – Foundry Networks Inc. “]

Routers and switches
Ticker: FDRY
Date: Sept. 28, 1999
IPO Price: $25
First-Day Closing Price: $156.25
Gain: 525%
Closing Price Thursday: NA (Acquired in December 2008 by Brocade Communications Systems)
Backers: Crosspoint Venture Partners, Institutional Venture Partners, Mitsui & Co. Global Investment Inc., Accel Partners, DCM, VantagePoint Capital Partners

[slide title=”1 – SourceForge Inc. “]

Operating systems
Ticker: GKNT
Date: Dec. 9, 1999
IPO Price: $30
First-Day Closing Price: $239.25
Gain: 697.5%
Closing Price Thursday: $26.25
Backers: Trilantic Capital Partners, Sequoia Capital, Sumitomo Corp., Weston Presidio, Intel Capital, IDG Ventures SF

[/slideshow]

UPDATE: This post has been updated with closing stock prices from Thursday, May 19, 2011.

Steve Bills is a senior editor at Buyouts Magazine. Any opinions expressed here are his own. Follow him on Twitter @Steve_Bills. Follow Buyouts tweets @Buyouts. For information on how to subscribe, contact Greg Winterton at greg.winterton@thomsonreuters.com.