Zillow up 79%

The company’s initial public offering which priced this week produced the third-highest 1-day return this year for U.S. IPO, according to Dealogic.

The stock was up 79%, behind Qihoo 360 Technology Co. QIHU which had a 1-day close of 134.5% and LinkedIn Corp’s LNKD 1 day close up 109.4% on its offer price. Zillow Z isn’t profitable. It posted a $6.7 million loss last year on revenue of $30.4 million. It’s first-day closing price was about 50% higher than most analysts’ price targets.

Still, Zillow’s IPO success is notable because of its small float. Zillow offered just 3.5 million shares, a 13% stake in the company. It’s not unlike the strategies used by LinkedIn and HomeAway Inc. AWAY.

Combined, small float companies have turned out to be great cash-outs for venture capital firms. One-in-three IPOs this year was backed by VCs – the top 15 1-day returns on all IPOs went to companies backed by VCs, according to Dealogic.