Cue Health, the US-based diagnostics testing technology developer backed by pharmaceutical firm Johnson and Johnson, chemical producer Koch Industries and marketing firm Dentsu, secured $200m in its initial public offering on Friday.
The company issued 12.5 million shares priced at $16.00 each, in the middle of the IPO’s $15 to $17 range. They closed at $20.00 on the first day of trading, giving it a market capitalisation of about $2.8bn.
Founded in 2010, Cue is developing portable diagnostic devices to test for a range of illnesses. Proceeds from the IPO will be used to further develop its technology, grow its manufacturing capacity, boost research and development and grow its sales and marketing teams. It had raised $404m in funding prior to the IPO.
Koch Industries and Johnson and Johnson took part in a May 2021 round for Cue through respective subsidiaries Koch Strategic Platforms and JJDC that raised $235m and which also featured Perceptive Advisors, Decheng Capital, MSD Capital, Acme Capital, Cavu Ventures and unnamed other investors.
JJDC also participated in the company’s $100m series C round in June 2020 alongside Foresite Capital, Decheng Capital, Madrone Capital Partners, Acme Capital and undisclosed others.
The 2020 round followed a $45m series B in 2018 that included Dentsu’s corporate venturing unit, Dentsu Ventures, as well as JJDC, Section 32, Synergy Ventures, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Babel Ventures, Principles of Tarsadia Investments, Sherpa Capital, Cove Investments, Troy Capital and Rohan Oza.
Cue’s notable shareholders are Acme Capital, which owns a 10.6% stake post-IPO, Cove Investors (8.6%), Decheng Capital (6.3%), Madrone Capital Partners (4.9%) and Tarsadia Investments (4.8%).
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Cowen are lead bookrunners for the offering while BTIG is lead manager. They have the option to buy nearly 1.9 million additional shares over the next month, potentially expanding it to $230m.
Image courtesy of Cue Health Inc.
