Health payments vendor Waystar plots $8B IPO

Private equity-backed Waystar, a health care payments vendor, will explore an IPO that could value the business at $8 billion, Axios has confirmed.

Why it matters: If successful, Waystar would represent the first health tech IPO since the public markets frenzy of 2021.

What's happening: EQT and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board-backed Waystar tapped Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan to advise on the listing.

• The IPO could come later this year or early next year — but both timing and valuation are subject to market conditions.
• Barclays is an underwriter on the prospective listing, a source familiar tells Axios.
• Reuters originally reported the news.

Catch up fast: Waystar was formed in 2017 through Bain Capital's reportedly $750 million merger of Navicure and ZirMed.

• Bain sold a majority stake in Waystar to EQT and CPPIB in 2019, in a deal that valued the business at $2.7 billion. Bain retained a minority stake.
• Under EQT and CPPIB, Waystar gained significant scale with a $1.3 billion-plus acquisition of competitor eSolutions from Francisco Partners.

How it works: Serving more than 1 million health care providers and facilitating more than 2.5 billion transactions annually, Waystar's software helps hospital systems and doctors' offices with bill collection.

CPPIB, EQT, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan declined to comment. Waystar did not respond to a request for comment.

Editor's note: This story was updated after publication to note Barclays as an underwriter on the prospective listing.