Verve Therapeutics Inc. shares VERV, 13.24% soared 68% in their trading debut Thursday, after the Massachusetts-based biotechnology company’s upsized initial public offering priced above the expected range to value the company at about $832.6 million. Verve, which focuses on genetic medicines for cardiovascular disease, sold 14.04 million shares in the IPO, which priced at $19 a share, to raise $266.7 million.
The company had previously expected to offer 11.8 million shares in the IPO, which was expected to price between $16 and $18 a share. The stock is trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “VERV.” J.P. Morgan, Jefferies, Guggenheim Securities and William Blair were the joint book-running managers. The company recorded a net loss of $45.7 million on no revenue in 2020, after a loss of $19.3 million on no revenue in 2019. Verve is going public at a time that the Renaissance IPO ETF IPO, 0.33% has lost 3% over the past three months while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.90% has gained 6%.