2019 IPOs: Startup Firms Saw Nearly One-Third Of Total Proceeds

Medical device startup Envista Holdings Corp. brought in $643.7m in the largest IPO among all biopharma and medtech firms. The firm had been Danaher Corp.'s dental subsidiary; however, following the offering the companies began operating as separate public entities. Envista is organized through two operating segments: specialty products and technologies, and equipment and consumables.

Leading the pack in the biopharma sector was Denmark-based Genmab AS, which raised over half a billion dollars. The 20-year-old biotech had already been selling shares on the Nasdaq Copenhagen exchange. In July 2019, Genmab raised $549.8m in its IPO of American Depositary Shares on the Nasdaq Global Market. The cancer-focused firm has two marketed products: Darzalex (daratumumab) for multiple myeloma (partnered with Johnson & Johnson); and Arzerra (ofatumumab) for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (partnered with Novartis AG)