Canaan Creative, the world’s second-largest maker of Bitcoin mining machines, raised $90 million in its initial public offering after pricing shares near the bottom of their marketed range.
It was originally rumored to raise up to $400 million for its listing on the Nasdaq under the symbol "CAN." This was the same amount that Canaan sought to raise when it filed its lapsed IPO in Hong Kong, but the crypto miner decided to trim the amount to $100 in the latest filing.
The Hangzhou-based company, which was founded in 2013, sold 10 million American depositary shares for $9 apiece each, according to a statement on Thursday. It had marketed them for $9 to $11 apiece.
Canaan reported a net loss of $48.2 million in the Jan-June period this year, compared with a profit of $30.6 million during the same period in 2018.
Canaan sells computer equipment under the “Avalon” brand. According to its SEC filing, it controls 15 percent of the global market for bitcoin mining chips and computer equipment. However, the company tries to portray its business to investors as a chipmaker rather than a dedicated crypto company with customized chips specially designed for mining bitcoin.
Crypto miners revive IPO plans
Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse Group, and CMB International Capital were promoted as joint sponsors of Canaan’s listing. However, the firm lost its lead underwriter, Credit Suisse Group AG, before the deal was launched.
Canaan ranks second only to Chinese rival Bitmain, the largest maker of specialized mining chips for the industry, which also filed for US IPO this year. They both revived their IPO plans on the heels of a recent bull run in cryptocurrency markets.
The abrupt upside movement of the bitcoin price, which has made over 100 percent year-to-date gain, follows its free-fall by almost 75% in 2018. Although the No.1 cryptocurrency is still far from its all-time highs of $20,000, which it hit in late 2017, crypto enthusiasts are increasingly optimistic that the 2019 bounce is real and is set to continue.
