Two med-tech companies explore going public, which would end an IPO drought for Minnesota

After a 2½-year drought, Minnesota finally has companies eyeing initial public offerings again.

Two med-tech companies concentrating on cardiac treatments — Anteris Technologies and Medical 21 — have taken initial steps needed to go public.

There have been no Minnesota IPOs since 2021, a booming year in which eight companies launched IPOs. So far this year, the only new public company is the 3M spinoff Solventum.

White Bear Lake-based Envoy Medical Corp. went public last year but through a deal with a special purpose acquisition company, which is a shell company that searches for businesses to acquire.

The company considered, but did not pursue, an IPO, said Brent Lucas, CEO of Envoy, which makes cochlear and middle ear transplants.

"We didn't see a clear opportunity to do a traditional IPO in intelligent way," Lucas said.

But now with Anteris and Medical 21, the mood is shifting.

Eagan-based Anteris Technologies last month filed a confidential draft registration statement for a proposed IPO. Anteris CEO Wayne Paterson said the offering could raise $75 million to $100 million for the company, which makes a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) for aortic stenosis.

"Why are things different at the moment? There hasn't been great IPOs in med-tech for quite some time," Paterson said. "The reason for that is a lot of these med-tech startups here are [catering to] small available markets."

The company cannot speak to the timing or pricing of the potential IPO under regulations from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Anteris, previously based in Australia, is already traded on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

The Anteris TAVR is not the first of its kind. Both Medtronic and Edwards Lifesciences make TAVR devices as well.

But Paterson claims Anteris' device, which is currently going through clinical trials, could cure aortic stenosis.

Plymouth-based Medical 21 is developing an artificial artery that can be used in bypass surgery. It is the eighth startup for its chief executive, Manny Villafaña, who took his other seven companies public.

The company recently signed a non-binding engagement letter with a firm interested in underwriting an IPO for the company. Villafaña said he would like to see an IPO for the company next year to raise $50 million to $100 million.

Villafaña said one of the company's strongest selling points is his experience, which includes founding St. Jude Medical and taking it public in the 1970s. Abbott Laboratories bought St. Jude in 2017 for $25 billion.

"We have a track record. We have done these things before," Villafaña said.

Anteris Technologies and Medical 21 are signaling that other companies may also look to IPO deals.

"There probably will be more the next couple of years than there have been the last few years," said Frank Jaskulke, vice president of sales and business development for Avio Medtech Consulting, of future IPOs.

Now that Envoy Medical is publicly traded, Lucas said it has been a good experience.

"Happy that we're in the public markets and able to access a different type of capital than private companies can access," he said. "The public markets offer more flexibility."