NEW YORK, NY
– Twenty seven venture-backed initial public offerings raised $3.4 billion
during the second quarter of 2015, a 59 percent increase, by number of
offerings, from the first quarter of this year and more than double the level
of dollars raised during the previous three-month period, according to the Exit
Poll Report by Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association.
For the
second quarter of 2015, 70 venture-backed M&A deals were reported, 14 of
which had an aggregate deal value of $4.1 billion. Venture-backed M&A
activity during the quarter fell to its lowest levels, by number of deals,
since the first quarter of 2003 as disclosed deal value increased 86 percent
compared to the first quarter of 2015.
“After
moderating in the first quarter following a blistering pace in 2014,
venture-backed IPO activity picked up some steam in the second quarter,
delivering 27 high-growth companies to the public markets for investors to
stake their claim to innovation economy,” said Bobby Franklin, President and
CEO of NVCA. “As has been the case over the last several quarters, life
sciences companies continue to lead the way, representing 70% of total public
offerings for the quarter with biotech companies alone accounting for 14 of the
quarter’s venture-backed IPOs. On the heels of FitBit’s successful IPO,
we will be watching to see if there is increased parity between the number of
life sciences companies and technology companies making public offerings as the
year progresses.”
There were
27 venture-backed IPOs valued at $3.4 billion in the second quarter of
2015. By number of deals, quarterly volume increased 59 percent from the
first quarter of this year and registered a triple-digit percentage increase,
by dollars, compared to the previous quarter.
Led by the
biotechnology sectors, 19 of the 27 offerings during the quarter were life
sciences IPOs, representing 70 percent of total listings in the second quarter.
By location,
23 of the quarter’s 27 IPOs were from U.S.-based companies. In the
largest non-U.S. offering of the quarter, Adaptimmune Therapeutics PLC (ADAP),
a United Kingdom-based biotechnology company, raised $191.3 million on the
NASDAQ stock exchange on May 5th.
In the
largest IPO of the quarter, Fitbit Inc (FIT), a San Francisco, California-based
health and fitness technology company, raised $841.2 million and began trading
on the New York Stock Exchange on June 17th. The company is currently
trading 90 percent above its $20 offering price.
Twenty-one
companies listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange during the second quarter, while
six listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Eighteen of
the 27 companies brought to market this quarter are currently trading at or
above their offering price. There are 55 venture-backed companies
currently filed publicly for IPO with the SEC. This figure does not include
confidential registrations filed under the JOBS Act, where many observers
believe the majority of venture-backed companies now file.
As of June
30th, 70 venture-backed M&A deals were reported for the second
quarter of 2015, 14 of which had an aggregate deal value of $4.1 billion, the
slowest quarter by overall number of deals since the first quarter of
2003.
The
information technology sector led the venture-backed M&A landscape with 54
of the 70 deals of the quarter and had a disclosed total dollar value of $2.5
billion. Within this sector, Computer Software and Services and Internet
Specific deals accounted for the bulk of the targets with 34 and 13
transactions, respectively, across these sector subsets.
The largest
venture-backed M&A transaction during the second quarter was Linkedin
Corp’s $1.5 billion million purchase of Lynda.com Inc. Bristol-Myers
Squibb’s $800 million acquisition of San Carlos, California-based Flexus
Biosciences Inc ranked as the second largest venture-backed M&A deal during
the quarter.
