The surge of IPOs continued Thursday with six companies opening for trading.
The group includes Instructure Holdings, Ryan Specialty Group Holdings, and Zevia—which are trading on the New York Stock Exchange—along with Absci, Couchbase, and Zenvia, which are opening on the Nasdaq. Elicio Therapeutics, a biotech that was expected to price its deal Wednesday, is now expected to list next week, a spokeswoman said.
Roughly 20 companies are scheduled to list their shares this week, in one of the busiest time periods for the initial public offering market. On Wednesday, five companies— CS Disco, Kaltura, Paycor HCM, VTEX, and Twin Vee PowerCats—went public. All five posted solid debuts in the aftermarket. Another eight companies are expected to trade Friday.
Couchbase was the only one of the six companies Thursday to boost the size of its deal and price above its expected range. Such increases are typically signs of strong demand. Couchbase sold 8.3 million shares at $24 each, up from the 7 million shares at $20 to $23 it had planned to offer.
Shares of Couchbase (ticker: BASE) opened at $29.60, hit a high of $31.95 and recently changed hands at $30.31, up 26% from the offer price.
Couchbase provides cloud-based database software that helps businesses manage their mobile applications. The company had 549 customers as of April 30, up from 511 in 2020. The list includes Cisco Systems (CSCO), eBay (EBAY), General Electric (GE), PayPal (PYPL), and Marriott International (MAR), according to its website.
Shares of Absci (ABSI), Thursday’s sole biotech, kicked off at $21. The stock peaked at $22.89 and recently traded at $21.75, up nearly 36%. The company, of Vancouver, Washington, raised $200 million after selling 12.5 million shares at $16 each, the middle of its $15-to-$17 price range. Absci provides an AI-powered drug creation platform that identifies biologics or protein-based drugs.
Ryan Specialty Group Holdings (RYAN), the wholesale specialty insurance brokerage, is easily Thursday’s biggest deal. Ryan raised $1.3 billion after selling 56.9 million shares at $23.50, the midpoint of its $22 to $25 range. Its stock kicked off at $25.60, hit a high of $27.10 and recently traded at $27.02, up nearly 15% from the offer price.
Founded in 2010 by Patrick Ryan, who also founded AON Corp (AON), Ryan Specialty provides products and solutions for insurance brokers, agents, and carriers_this includes distribution, underwriting, product development, administration, and risk management services. Ryan, who is also chairman and CEO, will have 67% of combined voting power after the IPO, the prospectus said.
Shares of Instructure Holdings (INST), the educational technology company, opened at $23.05, hit a high of $23.75 and recently changed hands at $21.01, up 5% from its offer price. On Wednesday, Instructure collected $25 million after selling 12.5 million shares at $20 each, the middle of its $19-to-$21 price range.
The IPO is the second time Instructure will be a public company. Thoma Bravo, the software-focused private-equity firm, closed its $2 billion take-private of Instructure in March 2020. The PE firm will own 87% of the company after the IPO, a prospectus said.
Instructure provides a cloud-based learning platform for more than 6,000 customers, including higher education institutions as well as K-12 districts and schools in more than 90 countries.
Zenvia (ZENV) was one of the first IPOs this week to drop below its offer price, making it a broken deal. Shares of Brazilian tech company opened at $10.35 and hit a high of $10.94. The stock recently traded at $10.90, off 16% from its offer price.
The lackluster debut came after Zenvia raised about $150 million. The São Paulo company had filed to offer 12.9 million shares, but ended up selling slightly less, around 11.5 million shares at $13 each, the bottom of its $13-to-$15 price range.
Zenvia provides a customer experience platform that helps its more than 7,700 customers communicate with consumers. Zenvia uses channels such as WhatsApp, Facebook messenger, Instagram, and Webchat to target consumers. Customers include Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD), LG Electronics, Rappi, Tivit, and Mobly, the prospectus said.
Zevia PBC (ZVIA) also fell below its IPO price. Shares kicked off at $12.50, peaked at $13.40 and recently changed hands at $13.34, down nearly 5% from its offer price.
The Los Angeles beverage company had filed to offer 14.3 million shares at $13 to $15. It ended up cutting the size of its deal by 25% to 10.7 million shares, which it sold at $14 each, the middle of its price range.
Zevia sells plant-based drinks that are sweetened using stevia. Its portfolio includes sodas, energy drinks, organic tea, mixers, children’s drinks, and sparkling water.
Write to Luisa Beltran at [email protected]
