Date: Jul 22, 2015 Source: bizjournals (
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Gene therapy developer BioCardia has decided that it isn't the right time for its IPO, postponing an offfering that had been expected to raise up to $62 million last week.
It joins a number of U.S. companies that pulled their plans to go public in what has been an uneven year for IPOs. Renaissance Capital, which manages an IPO tracking fund, reports that 31 companies have withdrawn plans to go public so far this year, compared to 27 at the same time last year and 23 in 2012.
Peter Altman, CEO of BioCardia, has pulled the plug on plans to go public for now.
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Peter Altman, CEO of BioCardia, has pulled the plug on plans to go public for now.
There have been two Bay Area IPOs in July and 14 so far this year, down from 20 in the first half of 2014.
San Carlos-based genetic testing company Natera raised $180 million in an offering that hit the top of its projected range in the first week of the month. Its stock has been up by double digits since.
But Palo Alto-based Internet phone company Ooma missed its targets late last week in a $65 million IPO. Its stock has dropped more than 20 percent since.
BioCardia had planned to list on NASDAQ under the symbol BCDA.
The company is headed by CEO Peter Altman and was founded in 2002. It plans to begin enrolling patients this year in a pivotal trial of what it says could be the first cell-based therapy treating heart failure to reach the market. However, the company doesn't expect to receive key data on the trial until the second half of 2017.
BioCardia posted a loss of $10.2 million on revenue of $822,000 in 2014, compared to a loss of $5.5 million on $1.5 million in revenue in 2013.
Its largest shareholder is its chairman, Dr. Simon Stertzer, a professor at Stanford University, who owns 18.5 percent of the current stock in the company. Other major shareholders include Sabiah Ltd. (12.8 percent), Modern Version Ltd. (10.2 percent), Gerald Peters (9.2 percent) and CEO Altman (7.8 percent).
