Life sciences rule the day again

Life sciences dominated the November issues of new VC-backed IPOs. Just as they have done all year long.

Through the end of November, 79 of the 109 venture-backed IPOs this year, or 72 percent, have been biotech or healthcare-related, according to an analysis of Thomson Reuters data by VCJ.

This includes seven more drug developers and health care companies that debuted in November:

• Neothetics Inc
• Second Sight Medical Products Inc
• FibroGen Inc
• Capnia Inc
• Coherus Biosciences Inc
• Nevro Corp
• Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc

The only non-life sciences, VC-backed company to launch an IPO in November was Shanghai eHi Car Rental Co Ltd, which raised more than $220 million in venture funding, accoding to Thomson Reuters, from Qiming Venture Partners, CDH China Management Co, JAFCO Investment (Asia Pacific) Ltd, Ignition Capital Partners, New Access Capital, Goldman Sachs & Co, Crawford Capital LLC.

However, as VCJ went to press in mid-December, it was clear the year would not end with just life sciences. Three VC-backed software developers, Hortonworks, New Relic and Workiva, held their public debuts. In addition, the lending companies LendingClub Corp and On Deck Capital also debuted, lifting the hopes of many that the IPO window for VC-backed companies will remain open in 2015.

Palo Alto, Calif-based Hortonworks, which provides data analysis software, raised $100 million for its IPO after pricing 6.25 million shares at $16 per share. The stock is trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “HDP.” Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse Securities are serving as lead underwriters.

Last March, the company, which was spun off from Yahoo in 2011, announced that it received $100 million in funding from BlackRock and Passport Capital, putting it at a valuation north of $1 billion.

Also, San Francisco-based software provider New Relic raised $115 million for its IPO. The company’s regulatory filing lists Benchmark Capital as the largest institutional shareholder, owning 22 percent prior to the IPO, followed by Trinity Ventures (13.6 percent). Other sizable investors include Insight Venture Partners and Tenaya Capital. New Relic has raised more than $214 million in funding, including a $100 million round in April.

In looking ahead, a number of companies are the launch pad, ready to go IPO in 2015.

One is Carecloud Corp, a Miami-based provider of products and services, such as healthcare records, providers and medical practices. The company has raised about $52 million in funding from Intel Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Tenaya Capital and others.

Others that are in regustration, according to Thomson Reuters, include:

• Box Inc
• CardioDx Inc
• Clarus Therapeutics Inc
• Egnyte Inc
• Endurance Technologies Ltd
• Eventbrite Inc
• Evernote Corp
• GameFly Inc
• Laureate Education Inc
• Mode Media Corp
• Netmotion Wireless Inc
• Nlight Photonics Corp
• NovImmune SA
• Pure Storage Inc