LONDON – Shares in the German technology company Rocket Internet fell as much as 13 percent on Thursday in its first day of trading after it set its shares at the top of its price range to give the company a valuation of 6.7 billion euros, or about $8.4 billion.
Rocket Internet’s initial public offering, one of the largest German tech I.P.O.s in more than a decade, has tested European investors’ appetite for Internet companies. It also comes after a lackluster opening day of trading for Zalando, a German online retailer whose shares closed flat on Wednesday.
After their initial fall, shares in Rocket Internet recovered somewhat and were trading down nearly 4 percent by midmorning in Frankfurt.
The decline stands in contrast to the Alibaba Group’s opening day of trading last month. Shares in Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, rose almost 40 percent when it began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Rocket Internet, which has successfully embraced ideas like e-commerce and online fashion pioneered by the likes of Amazon in the United States, operates online businesses in roughly 100 countries and employs about 20,000 people.
The company has shied away from entering the competitive American and Chinese markets and has instead focused on Europe and emerging markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Rocket Internet, based in Berlin, was founded by Oliver, Marc and Alexander Samwer, German brothers who own a 65 percent stake in the company. They also hold a 17 percent stake in Zalando through an investment company.
In total, the three brothers have made a paper profit of about $6 billion from the Rocket Internet and Zalando public offerings.
Rocket Internet’s I.P.O. raised roughly €1.6 billion, or double what it had expected when the company announced its public offering last month.
It is expected to use the proceeds to finance its existing business and to start new Internet companies.