Roku connects with investors in debut, shares up 17%

Shares of Roku Inc, a Fox-backed video streaming firm, rose as much as 16.6 percent in their market debut on Thursday, giving the US IPO market a much-needed shot in the arm.

The US IPO market is struggling to finish 2017 on a high note even though it has already raked in more money so far this year than it did in 2016.

Snapchat owner Snap Inc, and meal-kit delivery company Blue Apron Holdings Inc, which listed in the first-half of the year are trading well below their listing prices.

At $16.33, Roku had a market capitalization of $1.55 billion.

A pioneer in helping consumers cut the cord from traditional cable, Roku made one of the first devices to offer streaming content such as Netflix over TVs.

But the market has since become more competitive, with Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc's Google, Amazon.com Inc and others offering their own devices.

To compete better, the California-based firm has opened its platform to more TV apps than its peers, including Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and Google Play, allowing it to offer over 3,000 channels internationally.
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