Restaurant chain Cava raises $318 million in long-awaited IPO

Details: Washington, D.C.-based Cava busted through a price range that it had already boosted, snaring $22 per share.

• That gives the company an initial market value of $2.45 billion. For context, its last private round valuation was in April 2021 at $1.71 billion.
• VC backers include T. Rowe Price (17.4% pre-IPO stake), SWaN & Legend (11.6%) and Revolution Growth (6.9%).
• Chief financial officer Tricia Tolivar tells Axios that the company plans to open between 60 and 70 new stores in 2023, with a 15% target for annual store growth. By 2032, that would mean over 1,000 Cava locations.

The bottom line: Cava isn't a clean comp for most of prospective IPO issuers, which trend more toward SaaS or biotech. But its success does suggest that institutional investors are again willing to look at new names, after a year of focusing on discounted named already in market.