Microba Life Sciences, an Australia-based microbiome measurement technology developer backed by genetic analysis technology producer Macrogen, floated in a A$30m ($22.5m) initial public offering on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) on Monday.
The offering involved the sale of 66.7 million shares at the bottom end of its A$0.45 to A$0.50 range, giving the company a market capitalisation of approximately $93m. Its shares have fallen to A$0.37 at time of publication.
Founded in 2017, Microba provides technology licensed from University of Queensland that tests the gut’s microbiome as well as developing treatments for related chronic diseases.
Proceeds from the IPO will be used to boost the company’s global penetration and market growth, accelerate its drug discovery platform and improve its technology.
Alium Capital had provided $5.3m in series A funding for Microba in 2018, before Macrogen invested $2.8m the following year.
Synthetic biology technology producer Ginkgo Bioworks bought $3.5m of stock in the offering, taking a stake of approximately 4% in the process. Canaccord Genuity and Bell Potter Securities are joint lead managers for the IPO.
Macrogen’s stake was diluted from 8.6% to 6.5% in the offering. Microba’s other notable shareholders are non-executive director Richard Bund (11.5% post-IPO), a vehicle called Boysenholtz (6.3%), co-founder Gene Tyson (6.2%) and Dempsey Capital (5.5%).
Microba’s chairman, Pasquale Rombola, said: “We have received significant investor demand to continue building the premier global microbiome dataset and accelerating the discovery and development of new therapies. Microba will have a positive impact on human lives globally when we are successful in achieving our goals.”
Photo courtesy of Microba Life Sciences.
