Tesla was able to raise over $226 million in their initial IPO of 11 million shares.  Tesla, which will use the ticker symbol of TSLA, expected share price to come in at $14-16 per share but the initial interest in the stock drove the price up to over $17 per share.  In response Tesla plans to issue 20% more stock, increasing the number of available shares to 13.3 million in order to raise even more cash.

Being the first US automaker in over half a century to offer an initial public offering this one is a great success.  Most of the buzz surrounds the new Model S that Tesla plans to offer.  The family sedan priced in at around $50 thousand will be much more accessible to people that want a green alternative mode of transportation.  Tesla has announced that there will be more cars offered based on the Model S platform, making them cheaper to produce and faster to market.  The convertible, crossover, and van based on the Model S platform should round out Tesla’s portfolio quite nicely.

Tesla is in need of the influx of cash, the company lost $55.7 million last year.  In total since the company was born Tesla has lost over $200 million.  But between this IPO, a $50 million stake sold to Toyota, and the $465 million DOE loan Tesla should have more than enough money to bring the Model S and it’s successors to market.