After a surge of microcap IPO activity at the end of March into the first week of April, the second week wanes with far fewer deals in the pipeline.
Renaissance Capital’s report on first-quarter trends said deal flow started at a decent pace, then lagged with hawkish signals from the Fed, recession fears, and banking industry turmoil.
The surge at the beginning of Q2 reinforces Renaissance Capital’s report, “there are plenty of candidates in the pipeline and shadow backlog that are still targeting 2023 debuts, should market conditions improve.”
Stop, Swap, and Go
Holdover U Power (UCAR) has an estimated IPO date of April 12 and seeks to raise $18 million at a $368 million market cap. Founded in 2013 and based in Shanghai, the company initially provided vehicle sourcing services and is now developing proprietary battery-swapping stations in China under the UOTTA brand. U Power booked $2 million in revenue for the year that ended June 30, 2022. The sole bookrunner is AMTD Global Markets.
Clinical Trials and Cancer
CytoMed Therapeutics (GDTC) has an estimated IPO date of April 14 and intends to raise $11 million at a $51 million cap. Founded in 2018 and based in Singapore, the pre-clinical biopharmaceutical company builds proprietary platform technologies for human cancer treatment. Three product candidates are in development, with CytoMed receiving a grant and finalizing a trial of its lead product at the National University Hospital Singapore and recruiting patients in the second half of 2023. Axiom Capital Management and the Benchmark Company are joint bookrunners.
Take a Deep Breath and Vape
Ispire Technology (ISPR) downsized and listed April 4 to raise $19 million at a $369 market cap and finished up 1%. Ispire researches, develops and distributes e-cigarettes and cannabis vaping products internationally, excluding Russia and China. Based in the United States, Ispire was founded in 2022 to acquire specific businesses of the Chinese vaping brand Aspire Global, a failed IPO candidate. The joint bookrunners are Tiger Brokers, TFI Securities, and SPDB International.
