Ark Invest buys $172 million in Bullish, stock soars 83% on NYSE debut

Cathie Wood's Ark Invest purchased $172 million worth of Bullish shares across three of its exchange-traded funds as the crypto exchange  made its debut  on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

The ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) bought 1.7 million shares of Bullish on Wednesday, while the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) acquired 545,416 shares, according to the company's latest trading disclosure. The ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF) also purchased 272,755 Bullish shares.

Bullish's stock surged 83.8% to close at $68 on its debut day after  raising $1.1 billion  in an initial public offering, according to Yahoo Finance data. The stock climbed a further 11.2% in after-hours trading.

Bullish, backed by billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel, priced its IPO at $37 per share, surpassing projected ranges of $32-$33 this week and $28-$31 last week, according to  CNBC .

The crypto exchange  said  that it plans to allocate the proceeds from the offering to general corporate and working capital needs, as well as to support potential future acquisitions.