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Beta Bionics has begun life as a public company with a $204m initial public offering (IPO), significantly higher than its anticipated target.
The US-based company sold 12 million shares of its common stock for $17 each. The artificial pancreas maker had initially targeted a raise of $114.4m via an anticipated share price range between $14m and $16m. Beta Bionics hit Nasdaq the morning of 30 January, with the company’s CEO Sean Saint having the honour of ringing the opening bell. It will trade on the exchange under the ticker symbol ‘BBNX’.
The upsized offering has put Beta Bionics at the higher end of healthcare IPOs in the past year, the sharp end especially for medical device companies. Beta Bionics has flown past EEG platform developer CeriBell’s total of $180.3m, though remains shy of AI cancer diagnostics company Tempus AI, which raised $410.7m.
Beta Bionics' listing consolidates views shared by investors that the healthcare fundraising landscape is recovering. Experts have forecast a rise in the volume and deals of IPOs this year as investor confidence grows.
The company is taking the plunge into an insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor global market that is forecast to exceed $17bn by 2034, as per analysis by GlobalData.
In a social media post, IPO Candy founder and chief investment research analyst Kris Tuttle said that Beta Bionics’ technology is “a good solution, but not yet revolutionary. Worth watching, but not jumping in yet”.
Beta Bionics hit net sales of $44.7m in the first nine months of 2024, marking an increase from $3.6m in 2023. Beta Bionics’ revenue jump was largely due to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of its iLet insulin delivery system for type 1 diabetes in mid-2023.
An artificial pancreas, also known as a closed-loop system, uses communication between an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) to automatically adjust insulin levels in response to blood sugar levels.
According to Beta Bionics, its closed-loop system streamlines diabetes management by calculating insulin needs without carbohydrate counting. Instead, the pump’s dosing is initiated solely based on the user’s weight. As of September 2024, the company’s customer base comprises around 11,000 diabetes patients. In a move to improve access, Beta Bionics integrated iLet with Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensor and DexCom’s G6 and G7 CGMs.
Beta Bionics stated it is eying further indications in diabetes, revealing in an IPO filing earlier this month the company has plans for clinical trials to support approval extensions. Beta Bionics also shared that it is in the early stages of developing an insulin pump, with pre-submission discussions with the FDA already completed.