Mobile app technology company AppLovin made its Nasdaq debut on Thursday starting with an estimated market cap of about $24 billion. President and CFO Herald Chen said the company will use the funds to continue the growth of the business.
AppLovin provides application developers the opportunity to promote, monetize, and publish games in the Apple and Google Play stores.
"The hardest part, though, is to get through the app store. There's millions of games being developed and there are billions of mobile phones and there are these two app stores you need to get through," Chen told Cheddar. "So you really need a great marketing engine to match those users with the right content, and that's what we do."
He said the company's public debut marks an opportune time for day traders and the like to invest as the future of the company looks bright.
"This ecosystem is extremely large. It's fragmented. We are a very large player in the category," he said. "We've had very good growth, our fourth quarter grew over 80 percent, and we continue to gain momentum."
AppLovin specializes in mobile game development and promotion and has become a leader in the field through various acquisitions, which Chen noted are always strategic with the goal of "building our trajectory for growth."
Mobile gaming, however, is not the ceiling for AppLovin, according to Chen. The CEO said that there is an opportunity for the company to expand into health and wellness, fintech, and even e-commerce. He also noted that the company's potential for profitability on a consistent quarterly basis lies in its ability to remain cash-flow positive, allowing the company to reinvest in itself.
AppLovin's stock fell after its debut from $70 to around $65 a share in afternoon trading.
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