Legal services company LegalZoom makes $7bn Nasdaq debut

LegalZoom shares today opened 31 per cent above the company’s offer price in its Nasdaq debut, valuing the online legal services company at $7bn (£5bn). The legal tech giant helps users generate legal documents without lawyers.

Shares opened at $36.75 (£26.61), up from the company’s initial public offering (IPO) on Tuesday which saw over 19m shares sell at $28 (£20.28) each.

The private-equity-backed company offers a range of services including estate planning, divorce, name change and residential leases.

Founded in 2001, it expanded to the UK in 2016. Two years later, it was valued at $2bn (£1.4bn) and had 4m customers worldwide, 750,000 of which were in the UK.

In 2020, the company generated revenue of $471m (around £337m) and continued to grow by 27 per cent in the first quarter of 2021.

LegalZoom previously postponed a planned IPO in 2012, eventually pulling the offering in 2014.