Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Komodo Health, the health-care map maker last valued at $3.3 billion, has hired banks for an upcoming initial public offering, sources tell Axios.
Why it matters: Komodo is arguably the most anticipated health tech IPO of 2022, and could be one of the first big names to pull the trigger and potentially help to reopen the IPO markets this summer.
- Many companies are rethinking their plans as public equities continue to sag.
- The focus of many dual-track processes have flipped to sales, while leaving the IPO on the table.
- 2022 has produced just 16 IPOs so far this year (well off pace from 102 IPOs in last year's Q1), according to Renaissance Capital, and only 23 SPAC business combinations have been announced so far, for the record.
By the numbers: Komodo has SaaS-like margins and is growing top line at a rate of 50%-plus.
- Current ARR sits around $150 million but Komodo has not yet reached profitability.
- Komodo last year clinched $220 million in a series E funding round that pushed its valuation to $3.3 billion. Tiger Global Management and Casdin Capital led the round, joined by existing investors ICONIQ Growth, Andreessen Horowitz, and SVB Capital.
What’s happening: Komodo engaged Goldman Sachs and SVB Securities as lead bookrunners, multiple sources say.
- The San Francisco-based startup is expected to file confidentially for an IPO over the next couple of months and aims to go public around June or July, sources say, noting market conditions will dictate final timing.
What they’re saying: Komodo co-founders Web Sun and Arif Nathoo told Fierce Healthcare in late January that they were ultimately looking to take the company public.
- Nathoo hinted then that “over the course of this year, you'll expect to see us take steps to get closer to the public markets.”
- Komodo and Goldman Sachs declined to comment, while an SVB spokesperson didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
How it works: Komodo applies artificial intelligence and data science to create a so-called “health care map”, tracking patient journeys to develop a robust record of more than 325-plus de-identified, real-world patient insights.
- These clinical insights are predominantly used today by pharma companies for multiple use cases, but Komodo sees opportunity in increasingly working with providers and payors.
- For instance, data insights can be used to predict barriers to study success, understand clinician influence, or make accurate projections of adherence.
- Komodo also lets users build custom data on top of its customized datasets and integrate with other third-party datasets.
Yes, but: there are other players on folks' IPO radars that could look to make a big splash this year should the equity markets stabilize.
- On the digital health front, there’s Included Health (formerly Grand Rounds Health and Doctor on Demand), which Insider wrote in December had engaged banks for an upcoming IPO.
- Elsewhere, Bloomberg wrote in November that Tempus Labs, a data-driven precision medicine business, was considering an IPO as soon as the first half of 2022.
The bottom line: Although the IPO markets remain cold and chilly, when Komodo does ultimately come out it will likely emerge as one of the market's only hyper-growth, high-margin pharma data and analytics plays. And that, industry sources say, investors should like.
Sarah Pringle co-authors the Axios Pro Health Tech deals newsletter. Start your free trial at AxiosPro.com.