Twitter sharply increased the price range of its initial public offering by 25 per cent yesterday in response to huge investor demand, putting it on course to secure a valuation of over $17 billion at its stock market debut later this week.

Shares in the microblogging network will now be offered for between $23 and $25, giving the company a valuation of up $17.4 billion including restricted stock units and options. It will be the largest technology IPO since Facebook’s last year and is expected to lead to a new wave of listings.

If Twitter achieves the top end of the valuation, it would increase the size of the offering to $2 billion. It is selling up to 80.5m shares or about 13 per cent of the company.

Google raised $1.9 billion when it floated in 2004, giving the search company a valuation of $23 billion. Unlike Twitter, Google had been profitable for five years before its listing and was generating almost $1 billion in annual revenues. Adjusted for inflation, the Google stock market debut would have been slightly larger.

A person familiar with the IPO process said the offering was oversubscribed. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2013