US-based dental technology developer Sonendo floated on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, in a $94m initial public offering (IPO) that marked an exit for conglomerate Henry Crown and Company.
Sonendo issued 7.8 million shares at a price of $12 apiece, below its target range of $15 to $17 a share, and they had slipped to $9.20 at the end of its first day of trading.
Founded in 2006, Sonendo has developed a technology platform called GentleWave System that is designed to treat tooth decay by cleaning and disinfecting the microscopic spaces within teeth without the need to remove tooth structure.
The system combines procedure fluid optimisation, broad-spectrum acoustic energy and advanced fluid dynamics to disinfect and preserve deep regions of the root canal system.
Henry Crown affiliate CVF invested in an $85m round for the company in January 2020 led by EW Healthcare Partners and filled out by Redmile Group, Broadfin Capital, Orbimed, General Atlantic, Meritech Capital Partners, Perceptive Advisors, JMR Capital, SEB Private Equity, Neomed Management and Security Pacific Finance.
CVF had previously taken part in a $50m round for Sonendo in 2017 alongside General Atlantic, Fjord Ventures, Orbimed, Neomed Management and Meritech Capital, as well as a $35m round in 2016 featuring Dinova Capital, Fjord Ventures, Meritech Capital, Orbimed, SEB Private Equity and Neomed.
Sonendo has raised approximately $243m in equity and debt financing altogether. General Atlantic is currently the company’s largest shareholder, with a 12.4% post-IPO, followed by EW Healthcare Partners (7.6%), OrbiMed (7.5%), Meritech Capital (5.6%) and CVF (4.1%).
BofA Securities, Goldman Sachs and Piper Sandler are joint lead book-running managers for the offering, while Stifel Nicolaus is book-running manager. They have the option to buy another 1.17 million shares which could increase the size of the offering to $108m.