We’ve now entered the 46^th straight quarter of biotech IPO activity. New equity issuance for biotech in 2021 has broken records for the amount of capital raised, topping even the strong years of 2020 and 2014.

Although the open and constructive IPO environment continues,  the complexion of these newly-minted public companies is changing relative to earlier in the cycle:

• Younger and earlier. The median time from founding to IPO has gone from 10 years in 2013 to only 4 years in 2021. In the past seven quarters, more than 80% of IPOs were preclinical or Phase 1, nearly the inverse of a decade ago. These are young startups with mostly preclinical or biomarker (vs clinical endpoint) datasets.
• Richer but burning more. Balance sheets for new IPOs are larger than ever, and the median proceeds are up two-fold in the past few years (now $150-200M). Further, they are burning money faster than ever: at least 120 biotechs will burn over $100M this year, up from only 20 or so in 2016.
• More robustly valued. The median IPO valuation is up more than three-fold since the start of this secular bull market for going public: it was ~$150M a decade ago, and is now in the neighborhood of $500M.    

So “getting public” has never been as easy as it is today. 

It used to be the coveted prize, the “brass ring” to go for, which meant you’d made it in biotech. IPOs were considered “exits” and celebrated as rare once-in-a-career events. Today, in a world awash in capital, IPOs are just a step along the journey to bringing drugs to patients, and much more matter of fact steps, as well. They certainly aren’t exits, and, for many, their stage means that even the initial investment thesis has yet to play out (like showing value in a human PoC study, for instance).

For an R&D-heavy, loss-making part of the sector, getting access to the significant pool of public market capital greatly benefits emerging biotech. The dramatically lower cost of capital in the public markets (vs the private market with greedy VCs and their preferred stock) helps biotech startups scale more quickly.

But getting to an IPO is the easy part – being public is hard. 

With the incredibly expanding universe of public biotech names, fighting the crowd to get noticed by the best blue-chip investors is a never-ending struggle.

This is the essence of the “Relevancy Challenge” that many young companies face in their first few years as a public company: become a core position of one or more of the large “brand name” public investors, or get lost in the noise. Be compelling enough for marque investors to want to buy your stock.

Sadly, with this many newly minted public companies, many will find themselves asymptotically approaching, but never achieving, interesting “enough” to become such a core position.

This is what Josh Schimmer at Evercore ISI calls the “Like it, don’t love it” problem facing small and mid-cap biotechs today.  Lots of biotech names have cool technology or interesting drugs, just not cool or interesting enough. Telling a story that breaks through this problem – and becomes compelling enough – is critical for success as a newly-minted IPO.

A few other key lessons about being public from Schimmer, pulled from prior perspectives he wrote over the summer, are worth calling out, including some verbatim quotes:

1. Don’t rest on your laurels as a “successful” IPO. IPOs aren’t the end of the game, or the brass ring noted above, that they once were. You have to keep the fire lit – your first few years running as a public company should almost certainly be more intense than your last two as a private company. “Be aggressive. Hungry teams win”. Don’t cut corners, and do focus on high integrity R&D, but don’t let the team just dream away their mandate to deliver. And don’t let the stock price distract from being hungry; lots of in-the-money options can make teams complacent. “Especially in competitive fields, companies which don’t bring a hunger to move quickly and methodically are at risk of losing investor support”
2. Be disciplined on spending. Or “Don’t be frivolous” in Schimmer’s words.  Burn rates are way up in these markets, which is great for advancing programs but can turn against you with delays and challenges; fixed costs like FTEs and expenses leases can eat into runway quickly. Be adaptable, flexible – and where you can, keep costs variable so you can dial down quickly if need be.
3. Raising money under duress is very hard. Even in “hot” markets, hiccups in R&D can quickly make the cost of capital skyrocket.  Hiccups could be as bad as failed trials, but can also just be delays, noisy data, or even good/bad competitor news. During challenges, stock volatility can make raising even modest amounts of capital incredibly dilutive, transferring future returns from the existing shareholders who helped get you here to new ones taking advantage of the opportunity. As an earlier stage investor, I obviously hate it when this happens.
4. “Easy to fall, hard to recover”.  Gravity in biotech is a constant force, and as my blog tagline says, I consider myself “a biotech optimist fighting gravity.” It’s the constant force that tries to bring valuations lower, and companies have to tirelessly fight against it. Lofty valuations can drop quickly back to earth with bad news, or it can just be the steady gravitational pull of no news at all. Further, once you fall, it’s often hard to recover the mojo in the face of this gravity. Reputation, credibility, and sentiment are all inter-related. Very few “get out of jail free” cards exist in the biotech stock market. High-fliers that blew up because of perceived “bad” management choices can take eons to recover, even with strong data performance, because of team questions. The best answer is never to fall… but that’s a near impossibility over the life of a biotech, so learning how to bounce with a recovery is key.

When I’ve had portfolio companies go public, I often like to remind them – even if the stock popped on the first day – that we’ll very likely go below $10 before we go above $100. Volatility in the journey as a public company is just a ubiquitous feature of the sector.  We also like to say “it’s not a price if you don’t sell” – so if you don’t have to issue stock (or trade) than don’t focus on the day-to-day stock movements. The vast majority of biotechs break their IPO issue price at some point. But the hope is that you can raise capital at steadily higher prices (and valuations) over time to advance the pipeline and accrete value to the business.

To the 150 companies that are less than two years old in the public markets, look to your left and right… who will be the #456’s in the “squid game” of the public markets? Sadly, if history is any indication, many of these companies aren’t likely to have won the public market “relevancy challenge” when we look back 5-10 years from now.  It’s really hard being a public company – so good luck out there!

Correlating with the Bitcoin sentiment, XRP skewed towards the sellers after marking oversold readings on its RSI and losing the 61.8% Fibonacci support. Further, Stellar fell below its 20-50-200 SMA. However, these cryptos saw an increasing CMF, keeping the bullish revival hopes alive. On the other hand, AAVE saw a golden cross after the 20 […]

Byte Trading, a crypto market maker specialized in derivatives, has raised $7 million in a seed funding round.

The post Crypto market maker Byte Trading raises $7 million in seed funding appeared first on The Block.

The end of an era.

Is this the end of PlayStation? It’s always easy to get apocalyptic in situations like this, but it’s obviously not. Sony’s gaming division remains a wildly popular brand globally, and no single publisher can ever detract from that. Make no mistake, though, Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $70 billion is a blow of unprecedented scale – this isn’t just a haymaker or a right hook, it’s the manufacturer slumped against the ropes, blood dripping from its mouth, while it desperately gasps for air.

You might not like Call of Duty or any of Activision Blizzard’s other games, but you need to understand this: every year, the publisher’s first-person shooter is one of the biggest games on PlayStation. Call of Duty: Vanguard actually underperformed a little, meaning that in terms of 2021 PS Store sales, it was forced to sit behind FIFA 22 and NBA 2K22 in Europe and North America respectively. But typically, it’s Call of Duty at the top – year in, year out. And all its players contribute enormously to Sony’s bottom line, be it through microtransactions or PS Plus subscriptions.

Read the full article on pushsquare.com

Homebuilders are facing rising costs for materials and labor, causing the first drop in builder confidence in four months.

Disclaimer: The findings of the following analysis are the sole opinions of the writer and should not be considered investment advice On a short-term basis, Axie Infinity has seen some demand step in around the $68-$70 area. This is an important demand zone, stretching all the way south to $64. It is not yet clear whether […]

ENJ coin price action is under the influence of a bearish descending triangle pattern. Will buyers lose the $2.1 support as well? The Enjin blockchain ecosystem seeks to provide software solutions that enable anyone to build, trade, monetize and trade using blockchain. Established in 2009, Enjin is a part of the gaming industry. Its roots are in its first product, a gaming community platform dubbed the Enjin Network that grew into 20 million customers in the span of more than a decade. Enjin Coin is an electronic store of value that is used to protect the value of blockchain assets, such as Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs). Each asset created using the Enjin Platform contains ENJ, the minting resource that is kept in NFTs until taken out of circulation. Minting blockchain assets using the Enjin token offers a range of advantages for creators and users: Let us move ahead to read about Enjin’s technical analysis. Past Performance of ENJ The correction phase in ENJ is struggling to break down from the $2.1 support. However, the series of lower highs in the technical chart has revealed a descending triangle pattern. The pattern presents its neckline at the $2.1 mark, and the crypto traders should wait for the price to breach this support to get a sell signal. Furthermore, the decreasing volume activity within this pattern indicates the trapped momentum, which should outburst when the price escapes the chart pattern. ENJ/USD Daily Chart ENJ Technical Analysis The ENJ coin price has recently faced another rejection from the descending trendline. The coin is currently approaching the bottom support after completing a falling three-method candle pattern. The crypto traders should closely watch for price action at this high area of interest. As the price might retest this $2.1 for another support. Crucial EMAs (50, 100, and 200) in the daily chart maintain a bullish trend as the coin price is still trading above the 200 EMA. However, the other EMA lines could interrupt any bullish attempt.  The RSI indicator (43%) moving below the neutral line indicates a bearish sentiment among the market participants. The RSI slope has dropped below the 14-day SMA line. The MACD indicator shows several crossovers among the MACD and signal line due to the consolidating price action. However, the price action is still under a bearish influence as these are roaming below the neutral line. In short, the price action resonating in the triangle pattern might have caused inactive momentum in the technical indicator. However, they still indicate an overall bearish outlook for the ENJ coin. Upcoming Trend The failure to sustain above the $2.1 support will boost the selling pressure in this coin and drop it to an even lower level, i.e., $1.75 or $1.5. Even though this pattern promotes the continuation of bear attacks. The final call depends on the price action, on which side it provides a breakout. Therefore, the crypto traders should be patient till the price doesn’t breach the bottom support($2.1). The ENJ coin price chart suggests the next support levels at $1.7 and $1.5. And, in case of a bullish reversal, the price can find resistance at $2.5 and 50-day EMA. At the time of writing, the technical analysis by TradingView shows a rise in bearish sentiments as it gives a “SELL” signal for the ENJ coin. Technical Analysis for ENJUSD

The post ENJ Technical Analysis: Descending Triangle Pattern Threatens to Extend Correction Rally appeared first on Cryptoknowmics-Crypto News and Media Platform.

Invesco’s Global Head of Asset Allocation likens Bitcoin’s staggering rally in 2021 to a…

The post Bitcoin’s price could deflate below $30,000 in 2022, Invesco says appeared first on Coin Journal.

ATOM coin price gives a bearish fallout of the rising expanding wedge pattern. But lack of follow-through halts the downfall. Cosmos utilizes a proof-of-stake consensus algorithm. Validator nodes who stake greater amounts of ATOM tokens have a higher chance of being selected to verify transactions and receive rewards. Nodes discovered to be dishonest are penalized and may lose the tokens they have to stake. Cosmos compares its native token with ASICs which are utilized in mining Bitcoin. In a technical paper composed by members of the Tendermint team, it was stated: “It is a piece of virtualized hardware (economic capital) that you need to obtain in order to participate as a keeper in the network.” Let us move ahead to read about Cosmos technical analysis. Past Performance of ATOM The ATOM coin price struggles to rise above the high selling pressure at $45 resulting in a downfall. The price action shows a free fall of more than 10% in the past 24 hours. The free fall leads to the formation of a bearish engulfing candle in the daily chart. However, the lack of bearish commitment evident by the fall in trading volume questions the dominance of bearish powers. ATOM/USD Daily Chart ATOM Technical Analysis The ATOM coin price action shows a bearish fallout of an ascending broadening wedge pattern in the daily chart. However, the high demand zone between $32 and $35 can result in a bullish reversal, driving the price back above the support trendline.  Moreover, the support at the demand zone will result in a double bottom pattern in the daily chart. Therefore, a buying opportunity can arise at the support zone. Crucial EMAs (50, 100, and 200) rise higher in a bullish alignment in the daily chart. Moreover, the 50-day EMA stands strong near the $32 support zone and is ready to provide support to the downfall.  The RSI indicator at 55% shows the slope creeping lower to the central line in the daily chart after the recent bearish crossover with the 14-day SMA. However, both the lines remain in the nearly overbought zone, suggesting the bulls are still influential. The Stochastic RSI indicator shows the K and D intermingled slightly above the oversold zone in the daily chart. However, the recent bearish crossover indicates a rise in selling pressure. From a technical perspective, the indicators maintain a slightly bearish consensus for the ATOM coin. However, the price action showcases a reversal possibility near the support zone.  Upcoming Trend The bearish fallout of the wedge pattern in the daily chart increases the bearish attention for ATOM coin price. However, selling at current prices has a small target between $35 and $32 due to the support zone.  Therefore, the fallout of the support zone can bring high selling pressure. However, the reversal from the zone can drive the prices higher above $45. The ATOM coin price chart suggests the next support levels at the zone between $32 and $35. And, if the bulls take over trend control, prices can find resistance at $45 and $60. At the time of writing, the technical analysis by tradingview reflects a rise in bullish sentiment as it gives a “BUY” signal. Technical Analysis for ATOMUSD by TradingView

The post ATOM Technical Analysis: Wedge Fallout Struggles to Find Bearish Momentum appeared first on Cryptoknowmics-Crypto News and Media Platform.

It’s a case of “same, same but different” when it comes to Bitcoin price action this year, but historically, nothing has fallen outside the norm.

Telos, a superfast and scalable blockchain focused on real world use and adoption, is…

The post Telos showing strength with impressive gain of 53% in 24 hours: where to buy Telos appeared first on Coin Journal.

ROSE coin price fails to sustain above $0.50 and falls to the horizontal level at $0.45. Will the $0.45 level collapse under high selling pressure? Oasis Network (ROSE) is a security-focused level one blockchain developed to promote the open economy of finance as well as a responsible and sustainable data economy that utilizes the Cosmos SDK. Oasis is a leader in applications that encourage security and privacy of data and hopes to enable the private, scalable Defi and to expand beyond traders to the market. It is able to achieve high speed and has a secure structure by separating the settlement as well as the consensus layers. Let us move ahead to read about Oasis Network technical analysis. Past Performance of ROSE The ROSE coin price shows a downfall of almost 15% in the past 72 hours resulting in the formation of multiple bearish candles in the daily chart. The higher price rejection is evident by the long wick formations in the daily candles indicating a rise in selling pressure. Furthermore, the 25% jump in the trading volume indicates the entry of more sellers into the market. ROSE/USD Daily Chart ROSE Technical Analysis The retracement in the ROSE coin price can be a retest of the bullish breakout of $0.45. However, the increased trend momentum and rising selling pressure undermine the possibility of a retest.  Nonetheless, the horizontal level at $0.45 remains a crucial milestone in ROSE coin price action providing resistance multiple times before. Therefore, the level can halt the falling prices for a while.  Crucial EMAs (50, 100, and 200) in the daily chart maintain a bullish trend in a positive alignment ready to provide support to the downfall. Therefore, dips at 50-day EMA can generate a buying opportunity. The RSI indicator at 59% shows a fall in the slope from the overbought zone in the daily chart. The slope keeps a negative trend as it gives a bearish crossover with 14-day EMA and approaches the central mark.  The MACD indicator shows the MACD line approaching the signal line to give a bearish crossover. Moreover, the falling distribution of the bullish histograms indicates a rise in selling pressure. In short, the technical indicators reflect a fall in buying pressure and the price action showcases the entry of sellers. Therefore, the possible fallout of $0.45 will generate excellent selling pressure. Upcoming Trend The failure to sustain above the $0.50 mark drives the ROSE coin price lower to the horizontal level at $0.45. However, the increasing pressure projects a high possibility of a fallout below it.  However, being a crucial price action level, traders need to keep their eyes out for bullish reversal. This is why holders should avoid selling under pressure and wait for the price action confirmation. Moreover, a reversal from $0.45 can drive the prices higher to create new all-time high levels. The ROSE coin price chart suggests the next support levels at $0.41 and the 50-day EMA. And, in case of a bullish reversal, the price can find support at $0.55 and $0.65. The technical analysis by tradingview showcases a “NEUTRAL” sentiment in daily timeframe at press time. Technical Analysis for ROSEUSD by TradingView

The post ROSE Technical Analysis: Exodus of Sellers Extinguish Positive Demand appeared first on Cryptoknowmics-Crypto News and Media Platform.