Dive Brief:

• Shares of payments startup Square Inc. rose as high as 64% in its initial public offering Thursday, ushering in some hope for the company and for tech stocks in general in an increasingly dubious market. It ended Thursday up 45% above its initial $9 price, closing at $13.07.

• The company had muted its IPO expectations, discounting its initial offer to less than 60% of its last valuation. Square’s Series D round was sold in September 2012 at $11.01 a share, and a Series E round of $150 million in mid-2014 and an additional $30 million in October 2015 was sold at $15.46 a share.

• Questions about thin margins and CEO Jack Dorsey’s permanent appointment as Twitter’s CEO came at an awkward time for the payments company, right as it was readying its IPO. 

Dive Insight:

Some investors and observers have been skeptical of Square’s prospects while others do have faith, not just in Dorsey himself, but also in the company’s executive team, which includes former Google executive Francoise Brougher as business operations chief, and CFO Sarah Friar, who was a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs and McKinsey.

The company has ample cash reserves and access to a $225 million credit facility, leaving it well-capitalized for growth and diversification. As a public company, it now must prove itself capable of that diversification and growth.

“I want to get back to a steady state and back to business,” Dorsey told The New York Times Thursday. Square’s aim, he said, is “to continue to save people trips to the bank. We’re not going out there to say we’re getting rid of the banks or card networks. We’ve just put a much cleaner face on that infrastructure.”