Biotech skincare products maker Elevai Labs Inc. is seeking to raise up to $6.9 million in an initial public offering.
Based in Newport Beach, Elevai makes skincare products with stem-cell growth factors used in medical aesthetics treatments. The company’s production as well as its research and development laboratories are in Folsom.
Elevai, which was founded in 2020, has 16 employees. Its high-end products are distributed through physicians’ offices directly to patients for post-treatment skin support and ongoing daily aftercare following treatments.
The company works with stem cell exosome technology. Exosomes are components of cell vesicles that contain nucleic acids, proteins, fats and metabolites needed for cell function and reproduction.
Elevai is proposing to offer 1.5 million shares priced between $4 and $6 each. Before fees to investment bankers and other professional service providers, the offering would raise between $6 million and $9 million.
After fees and expenses, the company would receive net proceeds of $4.7 million from the offering at the low end of the price range, according to the prospectus, and up to $6.9 million at the high end.
The majority of proceeds are to be used for general and administrative expenses, with about $330,000 earmarked for marketing and about the same amount for research and development. The rest would go to working capital.
The bookrunner for the initial public offering is Univest Securities LLC, a boutique investment bank in New York.
The stock would trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol “ELAB.”
The company is led by co-founder Jordan Plews, who holds the titles of president and CEO. He is a graduate of University College London and Stanford University, where he trained as stem cell scientist and biochemical engineer. He said, via email, that he cannot comment about the offering.
The other co-founder is Dr. Hatem “Tim” Abou-Sayed, a board-certified plastic surgeon who owns and operates practices in Southern California. He is also chief medical officer of the company.
After the offering, the owners of 1.5 million new shares offered would hold 8.5% of the company’s common stock.
Elevai had revenue of $766,277 in 2022, up from revenue of $827 in 2021. Through the first half of this year, the company had revenue of $459,350, up from $195,257 through the half last year.
Elevai lost $1.8 million in 2022 and $1.9 million through the first half of this year.
The company’s headquarters office is in 500 square feet of office space in Newport Beach, but its largest locations are its production-grade laboratory spaces in two offices in Folsom. Those offices, both on Creekside Drive, total 3,000 square feet, for which the company pays monthly rent of $13,476.
In November last year, Elevai raised $3 million of the $4.3 million it was seeking in an offering of equity, debt and options, according to a filling with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company had previously raised $1.1 million in a seed round of venture capital.
