GoDaddy rocks in its trading debut

The 18-year-old company, which provides Internet domain-name registration and hosting services, has gained in its trading debut. The company has raised $460 million in a larger-than-expected initial public offering.

Shares of the company rose 31% to close at $26.15. GoDaddy, after offering 22 million shares for as much as $19 each, has ultimately sold 23 million shares for $20 each. GoDaddy had a market value of just more than $3 billion at the IPO price.

GoDaddy has pitched to investors that its customer base of small businesses looking for new websites will show growth. In 2014, the revenue has grown 23%, which was faster as compared to the rivals Endurance International and Germany's United Internet.

In IPO filing, the company said, "Most small businesses have fewer than five employees, and most small-business owners identify themselves as having little to no technology skills. Our addressable market extends beyond small businesses and includes individuals and organizations, such as universities, charities and hobbyists".

According to the document, GoDaddy has around 13 million customers. It generates revenue from subscriptions of domain and hosting products. Last year, the company's sales have jumped 23% to $1.39 billion. In 2014, the net loss was $143 million.

With the change in technology, the company has started facing challenges, as the consumers have found new ways to track down online content.

Earlier, users used to type in website names on their desktop browsers, but in today's era they just pick up their smartphones and get online information directly from applications.

GoDaddy is facing more competition, as Google, last year, said that it was testing a service that will let people use the Internet to find and register domain names. Other competitors include larger companies such as Amazon. com and Microsoft.