The “world’s most versatile camera” filled in all the paperwork to file for an IPO, but GoPro is also giving fans and users a chance to invest in the company. They confidentially filed for IPO status in February, and while they expected to raise $100 million, that price tag has now been shifted to over $400 million.

GoPro will be making use of the LOYAL3 Social IPO Platform that provides fans and users the opportunity to buy shares in the maker at the same price as financial institutions.

“At GoPro, we realize that it’s the people who love our products and what we do who are the real heroes here, and it just made sense for us to level the playing field and include them in our IPO,” CEO Nick Woodman said in a statement.

Woodman explained that if it wasn’t for the fans who kept on buying units, the company wouldn’t be in this position.

“While with most IPOs, ‘friends and family’ are defined as a few select people, with our IPO, all of our customers and fans who love and support our brand are considered our friends and family.  If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be here today, and not a day goes by when we don’t realize and appreciate that.”

The estimate price per Class A GoPro share is expected to be between $21 and $24 each, of which 8.9 million shares will be made available to the public. The rest of the 17.8 million shares will be sold by stakeholder, for which GoPro won’t receive any proceeds.

“We designed our platform so companies going public, like GoPro, can offer the people who care most about their brand easy and affordable access to IPO stock at the same price as large institutions,” explained Barry Schneider, LOYAL3 CEO.

[Source – Digital Journal]