(Bloomberg) — Astera Labs and its investors raised $713 million in the semiconductor interconnect company’s initial public offering, sending the stock above an already elevated market price range.
Most Read Articles on Bloomberg
Astera and current shareholders sold 19.8 million shares at $36 a share on Tuesday to tap investment demand related to artificial intelligence, according to a statement confirming an earlier report by Bloomberg News. Astera, whose backers include Intel Corp. and Satterhill Ventures, was selling its shares at $32 to $34 after raising both the size of the sale and its price target.
At the IPO price, Astera’s market value would be approximately $5.5 billion, based on the number of outstanding shares listed in its filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Including stock options and restricted stock units, the fully diluted value is nearly $6 billion.
The listing is one of the largest this year so far, and comes a day after a high-profile stock sale by social media company Reddit that could net the company, its employees and shareholders up to $748 million. is requesting.
Instacart, Klaviyo
Astera’s IPO tops recent big listings by U.S. technology companies, Instacart’s $660 million raise and Klaviyo Inc.’s $659 million initial public offering in September. Those IPOs, along with British chip designer Arm Holdings’ $5.23 billion initial public offering (the largest of 2023), failed to start a frenzy of listings, but the market has warmed since then. More than $7.2 billion was raised through IPOs on U.S. exchanges this year before the Astera stock sale, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The IPO was led by Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase, with Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Evercore, Jefferies Financial Group and six other companies participating as co-managers. Astera stock is scheduled to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on Wednesday under the symbol ALAB.
Founded in 2017, Astera develops semiconductor-based connectivity solutions with the goal of enabling the “mainstreaming” of AI and machine learning in the cloud, according to the company’s website. Astera capitalizes on investor bullishness on AI, raising $150 million at a valuation of $3.15 billion as part of a 2022 funding round led by Fidelity Management & Research.
Nvidia and other AI stocks have soared over the past year, pushing stock indexes to record highs.
loss cut
Astera cut its net loss to $26 million on revenue of $116 million in 2023, compared with a loss of $58 million on revenue of $80 million the year before, according to the filing.
The company’s investors include Intel’s venture arm. The company’s largest shareholder is Sutter Hill Ventures, which will control 12.6% of the company’s stock after going public. Fidelity-owned funds will hold a 6.4% stake, according to the filing.
Jitendra Mohan, co-founder and CEO of Astera, owns 6.1% of the company’s stock, and Sanjay Gajendra, co-founder and chief operating officer, holds a 5% stake.
Approximately 3 million of the IPO shares will be sold by current shareholders. Upward Bound Youth Group will sell 2 million of these shares, and the remainder will be sold by C&F Investments and investors each holding less than 1% stake.
(Updates description in second paragraph)
Most Read Articles on Bloomberg Businessweek
©2024 Bloomberg LP
