UPDATE 1-GoodRx shares jump 40% in Nasdaq debut after over $1 bln IPO

(Adds more details on IPO, background on GoodRx)

Sept 23 (Reuters) - Shares of GoodRx Holdings Inc surged 40% in their debut on the Nasdaq on Wednesday after the online prescription drug platform raised $1.14 billion in its upsized initial public offering.

The stock opened at $46 per share, compared to the IPO price of $33 per share. At its opening price, the company is valued at nearly $18 billion, more than six times the valuation it commanded during its last private fundraise in 2018.

The company, which counts private equity firm Silver Lake among its biggest backers, sold about 34.6 million shares at $33 apiece. It had initially set a target range between $24 and $28 per share.

GoodRx's debut comes on the heels of the successful IPOs of data warehouse company Snowflake Inc and Unity Software Inc, underscoring the frenzied investor appetite for new stocks which promise rapid revenue growth.

GoodRx posted $257 million in revenue for the first six months of 2020, up from $173 million a year earlier. Net income totaled $55 million, compared with $31 million last year.

The California-based company gathers information for more than 70,000 U.S. pharmacies to track drug prices and offer discount coupons. It makes money by charging fees to partnering pharmacy benefits managers.

Silver Lake owned a 35.3% stake in the company before the offering, GoodRx's filing https://bit.ly/33V3qee showed. GoodRx also counts buyout firms Francisco Partners and Spectrum Equity as major investors.

Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, J.P.Morgan and Barclays are the lead underwriters for the IPO. (Reporting by Niket Nishant and Anirban Sen in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)