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IPO Year In Review: Record-Year Bodes Well For 2021, And For More SPACs

86 Drug Developers Raised $17bn, Generated 86% Average Return

 
• By Mandy Jackson

Biopharma was an attractive investment in 2020 and fundamentals are unchanged in 2021, including the pandemic’s work-at-home requirements, which allowed more companies to go public faster.

Pixelated acronym IPO made from cubes, mosaic pattern
Out of 86 companies that went public last year, 67 were trading above their IPO values as of 27 January • Source: Shutterstock

The stars aligned in 2020 for a record-breaking year of 86 biopharmaceutical companies launching initial public offerings in the US, which raised $17.04bn and generated an 86% average return as of 27 January. There was an abundance of innovative companies in need of capital to grow as well as a lot of investment capital looking to back novel technologies. The COVID-19 pandemic served as an additional driver by boosting investor interest in drug developers and enabling a more efficient IPO process.

After a brief period from mid-March to mid-April when uncertainty around the novel coronavirus shut down the global economy, the IPO market rapidly recovered as drug makers and regulators showed that they could work together to deliver COVID-19 vaccines and treatments at warp speed

Top 5 Performers

By Scrip’s calculations, 34 biopharma companies generated double-digit returns and 28 provided triple-digit returns. These drug developers gave IPO investors the largest returns:

  • Greenwich LifeSciences Inc., 494.6%

  • CureVac NV, 490.6%

  • Beam Therapeutics Inc., 441

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