Two Zymergen Meca500 six-axis robot arms transfering plates from a Magnemover Lite magnetic conveyor system.
Courtesy of Zymergen
Zymergen, NeuroPace, and KnowBe4 are kicking off life as public companies on Thursday.
All three companies are making their market debuts on the Nasdaq.
Zymergen raised $500 million after boosting its initial public offering by 19% and selling 16.13 million shares at $31 each. This is up from the 13.6 million shares Zymergen had filed to sell at $28 to $31. It will trade under the ticker ZY. J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs are the underwriters on the deal.
Zymergen is a “biofacturing” company, which refers to the use of biological processes to make chemicals. Its first product, Hyaline, is an optical film that can be used in display touch sensors for personal devices and other applications. Zymergen is in the qualification process on Hyaline with customers, its prospectus said. The Emeryville, Calif., company is not profitable. Its losses widened to $262.2 million in 2020 from losses of $236.8 million in 2019. Total revenue dropped nearly 14%, to $13.3 million in 2020.
NeuroPace is also opening for trading Thursday after delaying its deal by a day. The Mountain View, Calif., company collected $102 million after increasing its deal by about 13%. It had planned to offer 5,313,000 shares at $15 to $17 and ended up selling 6 million shares at $17 each, the top of its range. It will trade under the ticker NPCE.
NeuroPace is a medical device company that is developing treatments for people suffering with epilepsy. More than 3,000 patients are using its RNS System, which delivers electrical pulses to the brain to prevent seizures. The company is not profitable, with losses narrowing to $24.3 million in 2020 from nearly $30 million in 2019, its prospectus said. Revenue rose 11.2%, to $41.1 million in 2020.
Knowbe4, which is also set to start trading, raised $152 million after cutting the size of its deal by roughly 20%. It sold 9.5 million at $16, down from the 11,818,552 shares it had planned to offer at $16 to $18 each. Knowbe4 will trade under the symbol KNBE. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and KKR Capital Markets are the bookrunners on the deal.
Founded in 2010, Knowbe4 provides a security awareness training platform that uses cloud-based software, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and advanced analytics to change human behavior. The company had 36,753 customers in 2020, up nearly 22% from 2019. Knowbe4 is not profitable although losses narrowed to $2.4 million in 2020 from $124.3 million in losses in 2019, its prospectus said. Revenue rose 45%, to $174.9 million. Knowbe4, of Clearwater, Fla., is backed by Elephant Partners, KKR (ticker: KKR) and Goldman Sachs Group (GS).
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