Visionary Holdings (GV) : 2-year performance

Visionary Holdings Inc. provides education resources to students worldwide. 

The company was formerly known as Visionary Education Technology Holdings Group Inc. and changed its name to Visionary Holdings Inc. in February 2024. 

• Sector: Consumer Defensive
• Industry: Education & Training Services
• Full Time Employees: 67
• Incorporated in 2013 
• Headquartered in Toronto, Canada
• https://visiongroupca.com

IPO: May 17, 2022; raised $17 million by selling 4,250,000 common shares at $4.00 per share.

Zymeworks (ZYME) : 5-year performance

Zymeworks Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes biotherapeutics for the treatment of cancer.

• Sector(s): Healthcare
• Industry: Biotechnology
• Full Time Employees: 455
• incorporated in 2003 
• HQ: Vancouver, Canada.
• https://www.zymeworks.com

First day of trading Friday April 28, 2017

Vancouver, British Columbia-based biotherapeutics provider Zymeworks Inc has raised $58.5 million for its IPO after pricing its 4.5 million shares at $13 per share. The stock began trading April 28, 2017 on the New York Stock Exchange and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “ZYME";

Citigroup Global Markets Canada Inc., Barclays Capital Inc. and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC are the lead underwriters. Zymeworks'  pre-IPO backers include BDC Capital, Lumira Capital, CTI Life Sciences Fund, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Perceptive Advisors, Teralys Capital, Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund, Brace Pharma Capital and Merlin Nexus.

AbCellera Biologics (ABCL) began trading on the Nasdaq on Fri 11 Dec 20

• Sector(s): Healthcare
• Industry: Biotechnology
• Full Time Employees: 174
• Founded in 2012 
• Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada
• http://www.abcellera.com

AbCellera Biologics  CEO Carl Hansen on CNBC on Wed 1/13/21

Canada Goose (GOOS) began trading on the NYSE on 16 March 2017

• Hot debut values Canada Goose at $2bn.
• Shares were priced at $12.78, opened for trading at $18.00, and closed 40% higher on first day of trading.
• Shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange.
• CEO and president: Dani Reiss, the grandson of company founder Sam Tick.
• The IPO raised C$340m for the company as well as shareholders Bain Capital and Mr Reiss. The company plans to use the proceeds to pay down debt.
• Fans of the trendy brand are willing to pay upwards of $1,000 for the down winter coats with coyote fur trim and a circle patch logo.
• Founded in a small warehouse in Toronto in 1957 as Metro Sportswear making outerwear such as woollen vests and snowmobile suits, Canada Goose went on to develop a parka for scientists at Antarctica’s McMurdo Station and one that was worn by the first Canadian to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
• The stock sold in the IPO carries fewer voting rights than those held by existing shareholders enabling Bain Capital, which bought a majority stake in the company in 2013, to control 68 per cent of the voting rights after the IPO, while Mr Reiss holds 29 per cent.
• The IPO wasn’t large at 20 million shares, which helped create scarcity value.
• There are about 106 million shares outstanding with Bain Capital, owning more than 60%.

Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss, second from right, rang the New York Stock Exchange opening bell to mark his company’s IPO on Thursday.

Grandson of the founder’s stake is worth about $418 million

Actor Daniel Craig wearing a Canada Goose coat. 

PETA staged a protest outside the New York Stock Exchange Thursday.

       

Canada Goose has been around for six decades, but only in the past few years has it risen to trendy status, appearing on everyone from James Bond actor Daniel Craig to students at cold-locale colleges to Kate Upton on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Canada Goose shares priced at C$17 last night (the company listed shares on both the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange). In U.S. dollars, that's equivalent to $12.78.

Canada Goose's IPO timing was serendipitous, coming the week a surprise mid-March snowstorm blasted through the East Coast. Its debut is also two weeks after Snap Inc.'s highly anticipated IPO, which also priced above its projected range and surged in its first day of trading.

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Unusual business risk: animal-rights activists. Because Canada Goose's products include animal products including goose and duck feathers and coyote fur, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and others lament the brand's business practices.

In November, Canada Goose opened its first New York City retail store, in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood.  Protesters from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) crashed the grand opening.

Since that time, protests and marches have continued, and signs have popped up around New York that slam the company’s use of coyote fur to line its parka hoods. (“Fur trim kills.”) And PETA intends to buy $4,000

worth of shares in the company when it hits the market—the minimum number needed to attend Canada Goose shareholder meetings.

DavidsTea (DTEA) began trading on the NASDAQ on 5 June 2015

Shares of DavidsTea Inc, a specialty tea retailer that has grown rapidly in Canada and the United States since its founding in Montreal in 2008, rose as much as 39 per cent in their U.S. debut, valuing the company at about US$600 million.

The company’s IPO raised about US$97 million after the stock was priced at US$19 per share, above the top end of the expected price range of US$17-US$18.

The stock hit a high of US$26.30 in early trading on the Nasdaq on Friday.

DavidsTea is the second Canadian company to list on the U.S. exchange this year. E-commerce software maker Shopify Inc listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange last month.

DavidsTea, which sells more than 150 types of tea through 161 stores in Canada and the United States and its davidstea.com website, sold 2.9 million of the 5.1 million shares offered.

Co-founders David and Herschel Segal, along with venture capital firm Highland Consumer Partners, sold the rest.

David Segal raised about US$14.2 million from the offering while his cousin Herschel raised about US$5.1 million.

Herschel Segal, who also founded the Le Chateau Inc clothing chain, retains a 53.4 per cent stake in DavidsTea through his Rainy Day Investments Ltd.

Highland Consumer Partners has 14.7 per cent, while David Segal holds 6.6 per cent.

DavidsTea’s most popular brews – which can be bought packaged or sipped in the store – include Buddha’s Blend, an infusion of jasmine pearls, hibiscus blossoms and green tea.

Most of its teas sell for US$7.00-US$9.50 for a 50g pack, but Japanese gyokuro loose leaf teas sell for as much as US$19.50.

DavidsTea, whose main competitor is Starbucks Corp’s Teavana, has doubled its store count in four years. The company operated 130 stores in Canada and 24 in the United States as of Jan. 31. It expects to open about 25-30 stores in Canada and 10-15 stores in the United States in 2015.

DavidsTea reported a 31 per cent rise in revenue to US$141.9 million for the year ended Jan. 31. Net income was US$6.4 million, compared with a loss of US$6.2 million a year earlier.

Shopify (SHOP) began trading on the NYSE on 21 May 2015

• Shopify provides a cloud-based e-commerce platform designed for small- and medium-size businesses. Merchants use its software to run their business across all of their sales channels, including web, tablet and mobile storefronts, social media storefronts, and brick-and-mortar retailers. 
• Its competitors include Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) and eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY).
• In the first quarter, Shopify reported revenue of $37.3 million, up 98%, and a net loss of $4.5 million.
• The lead underwriters are Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. Shopify will list on the NYSE under the ticker SHOP, set to begin trading Thursday.

Shopify founder and CEO Tobi Lutke

Shopify increased the price of its IPO, indicating strong demand for shares of the provider of e-commerce services for small to medium-sized businesses.

Shopify raised its offering price to a range of 14 to 16 a share, from 12 to 14. At the midpoint, Shopify would raise nearly $116 million by selling 7.7 million shares and have a valuation above $1 billion.

The initial public offering is set to price late Wednesday and begin trading Thursday on the NYSE under the ticker SHOP.

The Ottawa, Canada-based company provides a cloud-based platform that businesses use to manage their stores across multiple sales channels, including Web, mobile, social media and brick-and-mortar locations.

Shopify says it powers over 165,000 businesses worldwide. Its customers include Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA), Budweiser, Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Wikipedia.
Its competitors include Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Oracle (NYSE:ORCL).

In Q1, Shopify reported revenue of $37.3 million, up 98% from the year-earlier quarter, and a net loss of $4.5 million.

Shopify is one of five IPOs this week expected to raise about $1 billion in proceeds. These include e-commerce technology provider Baozun, which plans to raise $143 million by offering 11 million shares at a price range of 12 to 14 per share.

China-based Baozun provides e-commerce services designed to help its brand partners establish a market presence and launch products on official brand stores and major online marketplaces. With the offering, Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) will have an 18.2% stake in Baozun. It will list on the Nasdaq under the ticker BZUN and is set to begin trading Thursday.

CHC Group Ltd (HELI) began trading on the NYSE on 17 January 2014

Vancouver-based CHC Group Ltd., a commercial provider of helicopter maintenance and flying services, especially offshore to oil and gas companies, brought a a Sikorsky S-76 to celebrate its IPO.

CHC Group Ltd William Amelio, President and Chief Executive Officer rings the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on January 21, 2014 in New York City.

BioAmber Inc. (BIOA) began trading on the NYSE on 10 June 2013

BioAmber Inc., a bio-based chemicals company, produces and sells bio-succinic acid in the United States. Its proprietary technology platform combines industrial biotechnology and chemical catalysis to convert renewable feedstocks into chemicals that are replacements for petroleum-derived chemicals. The company also has additional bio-based products under development with partners, which include bio-succinic acid derivatives, such as 1, 4 butanediol, gamma-butyrolactone, and succinic acid based polyesters. Its bio-succinic acid has applications in plasticizers, polyurethanes, personal care products, resins and coatings, food additives, lubricants, fine chemicals, and de-iciing solutions, as well as in other products that include anti-freeze solutions, solvents, water treatment chemicals, and effervescence agents, such as laundry tablets and bath salts. The company serves various chemical markets, such as polyurethanes, plasticizers, personal care products, de-icing solutions, resins and coatings, food additives, and lubricants. BioAmber Inc. sells its products directly to its customers, as well as indirectly through an exclusive distributor in the Asia-Pacific region. It has strategic relationships with Mitsui & Co., Ltd.; Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation; Lanxess Deutschland GmbH; Faurecia, S.A.; NatureWorks LLC; DuPont; Evonik Industries AG; Agro-industrie Recherches et Dveloppements; and Celexion, LLC. The company was formerly known as DNP Green Technology, Inc. and changed its name to BioAmber Inc. in 2010. BioAmber Inc. is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.