‘Wow, This is Petty’: Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian Feuds With Investor On IPO Day

Reddit‘s RDDT co-founder Alexis Ohanian and early investors are embroiled in a public dispute on the company’s IPO day.

What Happened: Despite the norm of IPO days being celebratory, Ohanian took to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to express his displeasure with Initialized Capital, an investor in Reddit. The VC firm, co-founded by Ohanian and Garry Tan, did not congratulate Ohanian by name in their post about Reddit’s IPO.

Initialized Capital’s post read, “Great to see our portfolio company @reddit debut on the NYSE! congrats to Steve Huffman, and the team.” Ohanian tagged Tan and the Initialized managing partners, calling their actions “petty.”

Initialized Capital was an early investor in Reddit and has also invested in other successful startups like Instacart, Rippling, and Coinbase. Ohanian left Initialized in 2020 to launch the VC firm 776, which primarily invests in early-stage crypto startups, reported Business Insider.

One user, Harry Hurst, remarked that failing to acknowledge founders is perhaps the most negative signal a venture capitalist can convey.

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Despite the public dispute, Reddit’s IPO has been a success. The company set its initial share price at $34 and opened at $47 apiece on the New York Stock Exchange.

Why It Matters: Reddit’s IPO was a highly anticipated event, with shares rising by 62% on their debut. The company’s IPO was seen as a potential “watershed” moment for the tech industry by Wedbush’s Dan Ives, who predicted Reddit could hit $1 billion in revenue the following year.

However, the IPO was preceded by a patent dispute from Nokia, which Reddit was still evaluating at the time of the IPO.

Despite these challenges, Reddit’s IPO was a success. The company set its initial share price at $34 and opened at $47 per share. The company’s stock is currently trading at around $55, marking a 70% increase from its IPO price.

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