Which company's 2014 IPO was the largest venture-backed IPO in history?

Alibaba Group’s 2014 IPO was the largest venture-backed IPO in history at the time.

Alibaba priced its New York Stock Exchange offering at $68 per American depositary share on September 18, 2014. The offering raised approximately $25 billion for the company and selling investors, making it the largest IPO ever recorded at that point. Underwriters later exercised the overallotment, commonly called a greenshoe option, increasing the final size.

The offering drew global attention because Alibaba was the dominant Chinese e-commerce group, founded by Jack Ma in 1999. Its businesses included online marketplaces such as Taobao and Tmall, which connected consumers, merchants, and brands at enormous scale.

Google and Facebook are common wrong answers because both had landmark technology IPOs. Google went public in 2004, while Facebook’s 2012 offering raised about $16 billion. Uber’s 2019 IPO was also highly publicized, but it was smaller than Alibaba’s 2014 offering.

Alibaba’s record was later surpassed by other offerings, including Saudi Aramco’s 2019 IPO, so the historical wording matters.