IPOs this week : Dec 28- 31, 20 (wk 53)

 

IPO lockup expirations

• Accolade (NASDAQ:ACCD) and Lemonade (NYSE:LMND) on December 29, 

• Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) shares on December 30.

GBS Inc. (GBS) began trading on the Nasdaq on Wed 23 Dec 20

GBS Inc. operates as a biosensor diagnostic technology company. Its principal product is Saliva Glucose Biosensor, a saliva glucose monitoring system for diabetes management. 

It operates in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. The company was formerly known as Glucose Biosensor Systems (Greater China) Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to GBS Inc. in September 2019. 

GBS Inc. is a subsidiary of Life Science Biosensor Diagnostics Pty Ltd.

A real-time developer of saliva-based tests for SARS-CoV-2.

• Sector(s): Healthcare
• Industry: Medical Devices
• Full Time Employees: 7
• Founded in 2016 
• Headquartered in New York,
• http://www.gbs.inc

Priced its IPO of 1,270,589 units at $17.00/unit.

SEC approves NYSE proposal allowing for direct listings

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved a proposed rule change that allows the direct listing offering.

• Intercontinental Exchange's (ICE) New York Stock Exchange will be allowed to offer issuers the ability to raise primary capital through direct listings, said NYSE President Stacey Cunningham.

• Direct listings offer an alternative to initial public offerings for taking a company public. A direct listing sells existing shares, rather than issuing new shares, as is done in an IPO. It also bypasses underwriters in the process of selling the shares, thereby reducing the cost of the offering.

• Companies will not lose gains if their stock pops.

• Since new shares aren't sold through direct listings, companies can't raise capital through them. Rather companies that use direct listings may be seeking other benefits of being a publicly traded company, such as increasing liquidity for existing shareholders.

• Recent direct listings include Palantir and Asana, which went public in September. 

• The change, following months of industry haggling, will help reduce what critics call excessive underwriter fees, a major barrier to companies looking to go public. It is especially important to technology companies and start-ups, both of which would stand to gain greatly from the new SEC ruling.

NYSE President Stacey Cunningham on CNBC, Dec 22, 2020

• “This is a game changer for our capital markets, leveling the playing field for everyday investors and providing companies with another path to go public at a moment when they are seeking just this type of innovation,” NYSE President Stacey Cunningham said in a statement.

• In 2018, music streaming business Spotify Technology SA was the first major company to go public via that route. Direct listings had also been limited to companies wanting to give early investors or management the opportunity to cash out by selling stock.

• Peter Thiel-backed Palantir Technologies and Asana are some of the high-profile, cash-rich private start-ups to choose the direct listing route this year.

• Under the NYSE plan, issuers can sell shares directly on the exchange in an auction, which would increase opportunities for more investors to purchase shares at the initial offering price, rather than having to wait to buy in the aftermarket.

• NYSE rival Nasdaq Inc has a filed a similar direct listing proposal with the SEC.

IPOs this week : Dec 21- 25, 20 (wk 52)

IPO lockup expirations

• Albertsons (NYSE:ACI), 

• Akouos (NASDAQ:AKUS), 

• Agora (NASDAQ:API), 

• Ozon (NASDAQ:OZON), 

• Lixte (OTCQB:LIXT), 

• Vision Marine (NASDAQ:VMAR), 

• Fusion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:FUSN)  

• PolyPid (NASDAQ:PYPD), 

• Amersite (NASDAQ:AMST) 

Bumble has confidentially filed for IPO that could happen in February

The Bumble app was started in 2014 by Whitney Wolfe Herd.

• Before Bumble, Wolfe Herd cofounded rival dating app Tinder, but left the company two years later and filed a sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit that was later settled.
• Wolfe Herd has an estimated net worth of $290 million and is married to a Texas oil heir.

Bumble, the dating app where women make the first move, has filed confidentially for an initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company is planning to IPO in February, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn’t public. A listing could come around Valentine’s Day, they said, though not on that exact day because it falls on a weekend. No final decision has been made and the timing could change.

Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd

Bumble, backed by the Blackstone Group Inc., could seek a valuation of $6 billion to $8 billion in an IPO, Bloomberg News has reported. The firm is working with advisers including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley.

Poshmark has filed for IPO

(Bloomberg) — Poshmark Inc., an online resale marketplace for second-hand clothing, filed for an initial public offering, disclosing revenue gains and a profit during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Redwood City, California-based company in its filing Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission listed the size of the offering as $100 million, a placeholder that will likely change.

More than 70 million Poshmark users have sold more than 130 million items with a combined value exceeding $4 billion, the company said in its filing.

For the nine months ended Sept. 30, Poshmark said it had net income of $21 million on revenue of $193 million, compared with a net loss of $34 million on revenue of $150 million during the same period in 2019.

Manish Chandra

Founded by Chief Executive Officer Manish Chandra, Poshmark provides a marketplace to buy and sell high-end clothes harvested from closets. The company, whose website allows shoppers to exchange comments on products, has been at the forefront of the online shopping trend known as “social commerce.”

Poshmark’s investors include Mayfield, Menlo Ventures and Inventus Capital, according to its filing.

ContextLogic (WISH) began trading on the Nasdaq on Wed 16 Dec 20

ContextLogic (WISH), the parent company of e-commerce retailer Wish, provides an e-commerce platform that connects primarily China-based merchants with value-conscious customers mostly in Europe and North America.

The San Francisco-based ContextLogic offered 46 million shares at $24, the high end of its estimated price range of $22 to $24. That gave it a fully diluted market valuation near $17 billion.

• Wish stock plunged 16.5%, closing at 20.05.
• The Wish IPO raised $1.1 billion.
• Wish had the worst first day listing of any unicorn to go public in 2020, dropping 17% in the first day of trading prior to a partial recovery to end the week at -2%.

The e-commerce company says it appeals to "value-conscious consumers." It carries products from more than 500,000 merchants, mostly from China, offering some 150 million items. Wish has more than 100 million monthly active users.

Peter Szulczewski, co-founder and CEO of Wish, joins "Squawk on the Street" 

For the nine-month period ended Sept. 30, Wish reported revenue of $1.75 billion, up 33% from the year-ago period. It reported a loss of $120 million vs. a $24 million loss a year ago.

-=Prevail Therapeutics (PRVL) to be acquired by Lilly (LLY) for $22.50 per share

• A gene therapy company.  Other gene therapy stocks: Bluebird Bio (BLUE) and Uniqure (QURE).

Lilly (LLY) to acquire Prevail Therapeutics for $22.50 per share in cash

The cos announced a definitive agreement for Lilly to acquire Prevail for $22.50 per share in cash (or an aggregate of ~$880 mln) payable at closing plus one non-tradable contingent value right ("CVR") worth up to $4.00 per share in cash (or an aggregate of ~$160 mln), for a total consideration of up to $26.50 per share in cash (or an aggregate of ~$1.040 bln). The CVR is payable upon the first regulatory approval of a product from Prevail's pipeline.

Under the terms of the agreement, Lilly will commence a tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Prevail Therapeutics Inc. for a purchase price of $22.50 per share in cash (or an aggregate of ~$880 mln) payable at closing plus one non-tradeable CVR. The CVR entitles Prevail stockholders to up to an additional $4.00 per share in cash (or an aggregate of ~$160 mln) payable (subject to certain terms and conditions) upon the first regulatory approval for commercial sale of a Prevail product in one of the following countries: United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy or Spain. To achieve the full value of the CVR, such regulatory approval must occur by December 31, 2024. If such regulatory approval occurs after December 31, 2024, the value of the CVR will be reduced by ~8.3 cents per month until December 1, 2028 (at which point the CVR will expire). There can be no assurance any payments will be made with respect to the CVR. The transaction is not subject to any financing condition and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021.

Upon closing, the impact of this transaction will be reflected in Lilly's 2021 financial results according to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). There will be no change required to Lilly's 2021 financial guidance being issued today for research and development expense or non-GAAP earnings per share as a result of this transaction.

IPOs this week : Dec 14 - 18, 20 (wk 51)

IPOs expected to price 

• Oriental Culture Holdings (NASDAQ:OCG) on December 14, 
• Upstart Holdings (NASDAQ:UPST) and Context Logic's (NASDAQ:WISH) on December 15. 

IPO lockup expirations

• JFrog (NASDAQ:FROG), VerifyMe (NASDAQ:VRME) and Snowflake (NYSE:SNOW) on December 15. 

IPO quiet period expirations

• Olema Pharma (NASDAQ:OLMA), 
• Neogames (NASDAQ:NGMS) and 
• Telos (NASDAQ:TLS). 

Roblox postpones its IPO until next year

 

The company’s co-founder and chief executive, David Baszucki, announced the decision in a memo to employees on Friday, saying that waiting provided “an opportunity to improve our specific process for employees, shareholders and future investors both big and small.”

DoorDash, the country’s largest food-delivery company, started trading Wednesday with an I.P.O. price of $102, but ended the day up 86 percent, closing at $189.51 per share. The next day, Airbnb, a home rental company, rose 113 percent on its first day of trading, from $68 to $144.71 per share.

Roblox has exploded in popularity since the beginning of the pandemic, especially among children. In an offering prospectus last month, it said it averaged 31.1 million daily active users in the first nine months of 2020, up 82 percent from a year earlier, but had lost $203 million in the same period. Inside the Roblox online universe, players’ avatars can interact and play millions of unique games set in different worlds, from tropical islands to haunted castles. Players pay money for premium memberships, as well as for items and clothing for their avatars.

David Baszucki, the co-founder and CEO of Roblox

Even so, the company lost money. Its net loss totaled $203 million in the first nine months of 2020, more than four times the $46 million it lost in the same period a year ago. Roblox also warned that it was unlikely to experience the same growth when the pandemic subsides, warning that the surge was “almost certainly not indicative of our financial and operating results in future periods.”

In a letter in the prospectus, David Baszucki, a Roblox founder and now its chief executive, wrote, “Our original vision to make Roblox a platform for shared experiences is now leading the way for a new category we call human co-experience.” He added, “Our vision for the future of our platform has never been more real and attainable.”

In total, 41 tech companies have gone public in the United States so far this year, raising $17.7 billion, according to Renaissance Capital.

Desktop Metal (DM) began trading on the NYSE on Thur 10 Dec 20

Desktop Metal went public via a reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Trine Acquisition Corp.

• Desktop Metal, Inc. is the only publicly traded pure-play Additive Manufacturing 2.0 company, offering the fastest metal 3D printing technology in the market.
• The company projected 2025 sales of $942M will require an influx of substantial capital given the high cost of continued innovation.

Sector(s): Technology
Industry: Computer Hardware
Full Time Employees: 202
http://www.desktopmetal.com

 

 

 Desktop Metal, Inc. (NYSE:DM) is a Delaware corporation founded in 2015 and located in Burlington, MA. The stated mission of the company is to make metal and carbon fiber 3D printing accessible to all engineers, designers, and manufacturers. Since inception, the company has been a veritable “money magnet” and attracted total funding of $438M, which was then the largest capital raised by any private 3D printing company to date according to the company’s website.

C3.ai (AI) began trading on the NYSE on Wed 9 Dec 20

C3 AI delivers the C3 AI Application Platform for developing, deploying, and operating large-scale AI, predictive analytics, and IoT applications, in addition to an increasingly broad portfolio of turnkey AI applications. 

• Sector(s): Technology
• Industry: Information Technology Services
• CEO: Thomas Siebel (Jul 2011–)
• Founder: Thomas Siebel
• Founded: 2009
• Headquarters: Redwood City, CA
• Full Time Employees: 574
• The company was formerly known as C3 IoT, Inc. and changed its name to C3.ai, Inc. in June 2019.
• https://www.C3.ai

C3.ai (AI) priced 15.5 mln share IPO at $42.00 per share, above the expected range of $31-34

** the following day **

DoorDash (DASH) began trading on the NYSE on Wed 9 Dec 20

DoorDash, Inc. operates a logistics platform that connects merchants, consumers, and dashers in the United States and internationally. 

• Sector(s): Communication Services
• Industry: Internet Content & Information
• Full Time Employees: 3,279
• Founded in 2013 as Palo Alto Delivery Inc. and changed its name to DoorDash, Inc. in 2015.
• Headquartered in San Francisco, California.
• http://www.doordash.com

• DoorDash (DASH) priced 33 mln share IPO at $102.00 per share, above the revised expected range of $90-95
• Shares opened Wednesday afternoon at $182, 78% above its higher-than-expected initial public offering price.
• The company'sa market value now surpasses the combined worth of Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., Domino’s Pizza Inc. and Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc.
• DoorDash has never turned an annual profit, but a surge in demand during the Covid-19 pandemic has helped to transform it.  DoorDash had 543 million total orders in the first nine months of 2020, tripling from a year ago. It reported a contribution margin—profit after variable costs—of $433 million in the period, versus a $190 million loss a year earlier.

***

Physical locations and ghost kitchens

In October 2019, DoorDash opened its first ghost kitchen, DoorDash Kitchen, in Redwood City, California. Ghost kitchens, sometimes called "dark kitchens" or "commissary kitchens", are kitchen facilities that can be used by restaurants and caterers to prepare delivery- and pick-up-only meal orders. The Redwood City location has four restaurants renting out space.

In November 2020, DoorDash announced the opening of its first physical restaurant location, partnering up with Bay Area restaurant Burma Bites to offer delivery and pick-up orders.

***

In January 2020, the FT revealed that Uber had been negotiating an acquisition of DoorDash, but the talks came to nothing.

Similarly, Uber tried to acquire Grubhub (NYSE:GRUB) in June, also failing. Grubhub instead opted for a merger with Just Eat Takeaway (OTCPK:TKAYF), whose offer to Grubhub was "dramatically better than Uber's." Grubhub is now trading for more than Uber offered for the company.

Meanwhile, Uber just completed its acquisition of Postmates for $2.65B. While that acquisition looks smart given DoorDash's valuation, Postmates is far smaller than DoorDash.

IPOs this week : Dec 7 - 11, 20 (wk 50)

IPOs expected to price 

• DoorDash (DASH); DoorDash expects to raise over $3B after targeting an even higher price range of $90 to $95 to imply a Chipotle-like market valuation of over $35B. 
• C3.ai (NYSE:AI); machine learning software specialist C3.ai, shooting to raise over $500M through its offering. 
• Airbnb (ABNB); Airbnb goes public with the travel sector still being disrupted by the pandemic, but expectations high. "It’s the Apple of travel," says Atlantic Equities ahead of the debut. Airbnb set a projected target range of $44 to $50 a share for its IPO. The company plans to sell 50M shares, while existing shareholders are selling another 1.9M.
• Hydrofarm Holdings (HYFM);  Hydrofarm aims to raise $130M to grow out its vertical farming business and 
• Certara (CERT), which uses biosimulation software to create virtual trials that use virtual patients to predict how drugs behave in different people. The company is profitable is in its early going. 
• PubMatic (PUBM), programmatic advertising firm is looking to bring in $75M.

IPO lockup expirations

• Vroom (NASDAQ:VRM) on December 7, as well as Lantern Pharma, (NASDAQ:LTRN), Biopharma Generation Bio (NASDAQ:GBIO), AZEK Company, (NYSE:AZEK) and Avidity Biosciences (NASDAQ:RNA) on December 8.

ContextLogic (WISH) files for IPO

The mobile e-commerce company Wish is one of San Francisco’s hottest startups

• Peter Szulczewski, a  University of Waterloo math alumnus, co-founded Wish with another Waterloo math alumnus, Danny Zhang, in 2010.
• As of Sept. 30, ContextLogic had 828 full-time employees across eight companies, 417 of which are in research and development or related activities.
• The mobile commerce market was $2.1 trillion in 2019 and is projected to reach $4.5 trillion by 2024, according to the Wish prospectus.
• Wish has incurred operating losses since it launched. In 2017, net losses totaled $207 million; in 2018, net losses were $208 million; and in 2019, losses totaled $129 million. 
• Most of the company’s merchants are China-based.
  

 

ContextLogic Inc., the parent company to mobile e-commerce platform Wish, has filed for an initial public offering amid a massive shift to online shopping during COVID-19.

With 100 million monthly active users in more than 100 countries, Wish WISH, says it is the most downloaded shopping app, and aims to bring its users a wide selection of affordable products. Wish has more than 500,000 merchants selling 150 million items to customers. About 1.8 million items are sold daily.

E-commerce has traditionally focused on affluent shoppers. However, growth will come from consumers on the lower end of the economic spectrum, Wish said, particularly among the shoppers from emerging economies across Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe, where they approximate the average household income at $18,000 annually.

ContextLogic was incorporated in Delaware in 2010 and is based in San Francisco. It will trade on the Nasdaq with the symbol “WISH.”

Lead underwriters include Goldman Sachs & Co., JPMorgan and BofA Securities. The company will offer Class A and Class B common stock. The company set a placeholder of what it expects to raise in the IPO at $1 billion.

ContextLogic’s chief executive and chairperson is also its founder, 39-year-old Peter Szulczewski. Prior to launching the company, he held a number positions at Google. Others among the executive leadership have also previously held positions at technology companies, including Chief Financial Officer Rajat Bahri, who was previously at Jasper Technologies, and General Counsel Devang Shah, who worked at Zynga Inc.

***

Peter Szulczewski has recently purchased this home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, Calif.

• PRICE: $15.3 million
• SIZE: 11,695 square feet, 7 beds, 9 baths

Peter's social handles

• Twitter https://twitter.com/sfpiotr
• Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sfpiotr

Spec-built by a local developer and completed earlier this year, the ultra-contemporary manse sits on a half-acre lot atop a steep ridge, looming directly above Rupert Murdoch’s $30 million vineyard estate. Included in the nearly 12,000 square feet of house is an attached “auto gallery” with space for five luxury vehicles. Though there isn’t much of a front yard, the walled, gated and camera-watched estate additionally features a wee motorcourt for off-street parking.

Antero Resources (AR) : 7-year performance