While the initial public offering (IPO) market remains mostly on hold this week following the U.S. presidential election, home-rental company Airbnb is expected to make its IPO filing this week, with its public debut expected in December. Airbnb is aiming to raise about $3 billion in its highly anticipated U.S. stock market listing, making it one of the largest of 2020.
Airbnb could achieve a valuation of more than $30 billion, although that high of a valuation is subject to market conditions when the company plans to debut. However, that is nearly twice what the $18 billion the company was valued at back in April, when Airbnb raised $2 billion in debt from investors to stay afloat. That high valuation marks how dramatic the company's recovery has been since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic as more travelers shifted to prefer private rentals over hotels.
Shares of the U.S. online travel agency, Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BNKG), which Airbnb investors use as an estimate public market proxy to the company's potential stock, according to Reuters, have increased more than 35% in the past six months as the travel industry continues to make modest recoveries.
But the company is still not without its controversies. An Airbnb host has recently filed a proposed class action lawsuit against the company, alleging that Airbnb has violated its contract with hosts when the company offered full refunds to guests during the beginnings of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak back in March.
IPOs Ahead
IN8bio, Inc. (NASDAQ: INAB) plans to raise $75 million in its debut this week, offering 4.7 million shares at a price range of $15 to $17 each. The oncology-focused biotech is developing therapies through three different versions of modified gamma-delta T cells. The biotech's lead candidates, INB-200 and INB-100, are both currently in Phase I clinical trials, with top-line data expected in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Inhibikase Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: IKT) is taking another shot at going public this week, slashing its share offering by 40% to 1.4 million to raises $15 million from shares priced at $10 to $12 each. The biotech is developing therapies for Parkinson's Disease and other related related disorders that occur inside and outside the brain. The company has filed two Investigative New Drug forms to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its lead candidate, ikT-148009, and expects to begin dosing patients as part of a clinical trial soon after going public.