Clear stock up dramatically after IPO, CEO sees biometrics extended to offices and healthcare

Clear’s stock price started above its estimated range and climbed from there on Wednesday, raising nearly $410 million for the biometrics provider at a market cap of $4.5 billion, CNBC reports.

The common stock was priced at $31 on Tuesday, after Clear filed for an IPO in the $27 to $30 range with the SEC, but started trading at $38.55 and peaked at $44.79, before finishing the day at $40.00. That puts Clear’s market cap on close at roughly $5.8 billion.

Just before trading opened on Wednesday morning, Clear Chair and CEO Caryn Seidman-Becker told CNBC that the company intends to increase its customer base among office buildings, restaurants and stadiums.

“My hope in a few years is that aviation is our smallest vertical, because the other ones are so much bigger,” Seidman-Becker said. “We just think there are extraordinary opportunities to bring the CLEAR platform to life and create frictionless journeys wherever you are really turning it into your daily habit.”

She also expressed optimism about a return to normal air travel volumes, suggesting business travel will change, but an increase in remote workers will balance reductions elsewhere.

Healthcare could be another growth area.

“We started in the hardest place: aviation. If it was good enough to get on a plane, where identity and security are paramount, clearly—no pun intended—it’s good enough that to check in at the doctor’s office,” Seidman-Becker told Forbes. “We had a HIPAA-compliant back end and being so focused on being secure and scalable to the aviation business meant it was applicable to so many other businesses.”

Article Topics

biometrics  |  CLEAR  |  consumer adoption  |  digital identity  |  financial results  |  identity verification  |  IPO  |  stocks