Shares of Atai Life Sciences B.V. supported by billionaire investor Peter Thiel, surged 40% in their U.S. stock market debut on Friday, giving the German psychedelics startup a market capitalization of $3.19 billion.
The Berlin-based biotech startup, which is investigating the utilization of hallucinogenic medicines for psychological maladjustments, raised $225 million from selling 15 million shares in its upgraded first sale of stock (Initial public offering) on Thursday.
The company’s shares opened at $21, higher than the Initial public offering price of $15, yet surrendered early gains to exchange level by 1600 GMT.
Atai was co-founded in 2018 by German investor Christian Angermayer, a supporter of the advantages of utilizing hallucinogenics like psilocybin to treat depression, anxiety and substance abuse issues. The German startup has backed several companies developing such treatments.
Psilocybin, the hallucinogenic dynamic compound in sorcery mushrooms, was discovered to be as effective as escitalopram, a main antidepressant drug, in an investigation by British researchers.
Atai was thinking about floating its shares in the US in May, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Its presentation comes when U.S. Initial public offerings have effectively brought $171 billion up in the initial first half of the year, soaring past the 2020 record of $168 billion, as per information from Dealogic.
Angermayer has supported around 30 biotech companies, including immunotherapies firm Sensei Biotherapeutics, mental medical care company Compass Pathways and artificial intelligence-powered drug discovery platform AbCellera Biologics all of which listed in the US recently.
Germany-based laser communications technology firm Mynaric and data center operator Northern Data, both partially owned by Angermayer, are additionally planning to list on the Nasdaq later in 2021 or in 2022. Credit Suisse, Citigroup, Cowen and Berenberg were the lead underwirters
