Analysis
Four IPOs priced within the same 24-hour stretch this week, and the spread between them is the real story: one popped hard, one landed well below plan.
- Strive — roughly $630 million gross in an upsized preferred-stock offering at $90/share (7,000,000 shares), carrying a 15% dividend rate, with proceeds earmarked largely for bitcoin purchases as the firm completes its bitcoin-treasury pivot. Pulse coverage
- City Therapeutics — an upsized IPO at $18/share for about $200 million, now trading on Nasdaq under ticker CTY. Pulse coverage
- Iambic Therapeutics — priced at $16/share for $150 million, then closed its first trading day up 18.19% at $18.91 under ticker IAM. Pulse coverage
- Amaero — priced at $4.25/share for roughly $20 million, about 60% smaller than its original $52.6 million target after postponing the offering in September. Pulse coverage
“But what the four pricings this week don't show is durability.”
Context for how hot this window is: Solidigm is reportedly weighing a 2027 listing that could value it up to $100 billion, and an early Anthropic investor expects the AI lab's shares to trade at $2.3-2.4 trillion once it goes public, a figure that would top SpaceX's $2.1 trillion opening-day record. Neither has priced yet; both remain targets, not outcomes.
But what the four pricings this week don't show is durability. Amaero's smaller-than-planned deal is a reminder that strong demand for one biotech IPO doesn't automatically transfer to another, and Strive's proceeds are earmarked for bitcoin purchases rather than operations, a leveraged bet the market is pricing separately from the listing itself at a 15% preferred dividend rate. The risk for any founder reading this as an all-clear signal is treating one week's pricing spread as proof the window stays open on these terms.
Lockup expiries on City Therapeutics and Iambic, both of which priced above where biotech IPOs were trading as recently as September, will be the next real test of whether this week's demand holds past the first trading day. More detail on the broader funding and IPO picture is on Pulse's stats page.