Plenti CEO Daniel Foggo says he was surprised by the ASX's savage response to the non-bank lender's initial public offering on Wednesday, the largest for the year-to-date, but is confident about its long-term prospects now it has more capital to accelerate growth.

Plenti's shares opened down sharply, reflecting market nerves about unsecured personal lending amid the COVID-19 crisis and highlighting the challenge of raising fresh capital in the recession.