Virax Biolabs Group Limited (VRAX) shares shot up to $20.01 – a jump of 300.2 percent from their IPO price – on Thursday (July 21, 2022) in late morning trading on the NASDAQ. The COVID-19 diagnostic test and PPE company priced its IPO on Wednesday night (July 20, 2022) at $5.00 and sold 1.35 million shares, in line with the terms in its prospectus. The London-based company’s IPO raised $6.75 million. Virax Biolabs’ stock ended its first day of NASDAQ trading at $18.20, up $13.20 – a 264 percent gain from its IPO price. (Editor’s Note: This column, published early Thursday morning, July 21, 2022, was updated at midday and again after the closing bell.)
The Virax Biolabs deal was the only IPO on this week’s IPO Calendar. Virax Biolabs increased the size of its IPO to 1.35 million shares from 1.2 million shares initially, according to an F-1/A filing dated June 21, 2022. The company filed to go public in March, after submitting confidential IPO paperwork to the SEC in late December 2021.
Boustead Securities was the sole book-runner.
The holding company, incorporated in the Cayman Islands, issued the shares in the IPO. The company’s major operations are in the U.K. and Hong Kong, with operating subsidiaries in Singapore, China and the British Virgin Islands.
Virax Biolabs develops and sells diagnostic test kits and Personal Protective Equipment (“PPE”) for the prevention, detection, diagnosis and risk management of viral diseases, with a particular interest in the field of immunology, according to the prospectus. The company was founded in 2013.
“We are developing a T-Cell IVD test kit under the Virax Immune brand for COVID-19 initially, which we subsequently intend to adapt for immunological profiling against multiple viral threats,” the prospectus says. “We are also building a proprietary mobile application for Virax Immune using an in-house code that will present an individual’s immunological profiling data and provide advice on the user’s immune system. Based on our management team’s analysis, we expect to file a patent for the Virax Immune Cell diagnostic test kit and a copyright for the Virax Immune app in 2022.”
Virax Biolabs Group is not profitable. The company reported a net loss of $670,000 on revenue of $120,000 for the last 12 months.
An NYSE – American Uplisting Deal Tonight
An NYSE-American uplisting deal for 1847 Holdings LLC (EFSH proposed) is expected to price tonight – Thursday, July 21st. This is a tiny deal: 2.31 million shares at $4.20 to $6.20 to raise $10.7 million. This is an uplisting from the OTCQB, where the stock closed at $1.85 on July 8, 2022, the prospectus says.
Craft Capital Management and R.F. Lafferty & Co. are the joint book-runners.
New York-based 1847 Holdings acquires small companies, which it defines as a business with an enterprise value of less than $50 million. Its portfolio includes Asien’s Appliance, Inc., a retailer of kitchen, laundry and outdoor appliances in Santa Rosa, California, and Kyle’s Custom Wood Shop, Inc., a custom kitchen and bath cabinet maker in Boise, Idaho.
The company’s spinoffs include 1847 Goedeker (GOED), an appliance and furniture retailer in the St. Louis suburb of Ballwin, Missouri. 1847 Goedeker’s stock is trading at around $1.27, down 85.9 percent from its IPO price of $9.00 on July 30, 2020.
1847 Holdings is not profitable. The company booked a net loss of $3.59 million on revenue of $30.66 million for the last 12 months, the prospectus says.
Looking Ahead
In the meantime, the SEC’s filing window is still taking in IPOs and uplisting/public offerings – mostly small-cap deals. An exception to this trend: Whale Point Acquisition (WPAU proposed), a FinTech-focused blank check company, filed its IPO on Wednesday (July 20, 2022) with plans to offer 15 million units at $10 each to raise $150 million. BTIG is the sole book-runner.
Next week’s IPO Calendar has three small-cap deals so far – the IPOs of Jianzhi Education Technology (JZ proposed), the parent of a Chinese digital education company; Mobile Global eSports Inc. (MGAM proposed), also known as MOGO, a California-based eSports company focused on India and South Asia, and MAIA Biotechnology (MAIA proposed), a cancer biotech.
Stay tuned.
(For more information, please see our IPO Calendar – Click on the company’s name and the hyperlink will take you to the IPO Profile, which includes a link to the prospectus.)
(Never trade on proposed symbols. You might wind up owning something on the OTC Bulletin Board.)
Disclosure: Nobody on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned above, nor do they trade or invest in IPOs. The IPOScoop.com staff does not issue advice, recommendations or opinions.
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