AAA Everspin revolves to $40m initial public offering

Everspin revolves to $40m initial public offering

Everspin Technologies, a US-based memory technology producer backed by corporates Western Digital and GlobalFoundries, will raise $40m when it floats on Nasdaq today, issuing 5 million shares priced at $8.00 each.

Spun out of semiconductor producer Freescale in 2008, Everspin provides magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) technology that stores data in a magnetic state, as opposed to the electrical charge state utilised in traditional semiconductor memory.

The company has raised more than $78m in venture capital, its most recent funding being a $29m series B round that included hard disk drive manufacturer Western Digital’s corporate venturing unit, Western Digital Capital, and semiconductor foundry GlobalFoundries.

The round, which closed in January 2015, also featured New Venture Partners, Sigma Partners, Lux Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Epic Ventures.

Western Digital is not listed as a 5% shareholder in the IPO filing, but GlobalFoundries, which provided $5m for the series B round, held an 11.9% stake that has been diluted to 5.2% in the offering. Freescale’s stake has dropped from 10.1% to 4.5%.

Other notable shareholders include NV Partners (a 16.1% stake post-offering), Sigma Partners (8.6%), Lux Ventures (7%), DFJ and Epic Ventures (4.3% each).

Flash memory technology manufacturer GigaDevice Semiconductor is buying 625,000 shares in a private placement concurrent to the offering and will hold a 5% stake post-IPO.

Stifel and Needham & Company are joint book-running managers for the IPO, while Canaccord Genuity and Craig-Hallum Capital Group are co-managers. They have the option to buy another 750,000 shares, which would lift the size of the offering to $46m.

– Image courtesy of Everspin Technologies Inc.

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