Shares of Tilray Inc. jumped on Thursday as it became the first Canadian cannabis company to launch an initial public offering on a U.S. stock market.

Tilray shares rose almost 32 per cent above their $17 US IPO price to close at $22.39 US. The issue, which trades under the symbol TLRY, got as high as $24 US at one point in afternoon trading.

Late Wednesday, the Nanaimo, B.C.-based company's IPO was priced above its expected price range of $14 to $16. The $17-per-share price meant that Tilray raised $153 million through its offering. More than 6.5 million shares were offered in the U.S., while another 2.5 million shares were offered in Canada and other countries at $22.45 Cdn per share.

The shares included in the IPO were all subordinate voting shares.

Majority control of the company rests with Privateer Holdings, which is based in Seattle. With the IPO, Privateer owns all of the 16.7 million multiple-voting shares of Tilray and 78 per cent of its subordinate voting shares. Each multiple-voting share is entitled to 10 votes, while each subordinate shares gets one vote. That gives Privateer roughly 93 per cent of the voting power in the company.

Tilray has said it does not plan to list on any stock exchange in Canada.