- General
- October 27, 2020
- 6 minutes read
Auris Health Team Debut $300M SPAC
Fred Moll, Founder, Auris Health.Photo credit: TechCrunch, licensed under CC BY 2.0 A special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) led by robotic surgery entrepreneurs…
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| Fred Moll, Founder, Auris Health. Photo credit: TechCrunch, licensed under CC BY 2.0 |
A special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) led by robotic surgery entrepreneurs who helped build up medical robotics company Auris Health from the ground up and saw it through a $5.8 billion acquisition last year is set to begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange after securing $300 million from a public offering. The SPAC, named Lux Health Tech Acquisition Corp is seeking to merge with a health tech company.
Lux Health Tech Acquisition’s offering comes just on the heels of another group of health tech veterans formalizing plans to debut a $500 million SPAC, and just like Lux Health, the planned SPAC is spearheaded by executives from a well-known company, Livongo.
Lux Health Tech Acquisition is led by the duo of Josh DeFonzo, the former Chief Operating Officer of Auris Health, and Peter Hebert, a managing director of venture capital firm Lux Ventures which was an early investor in Auris Health and reaped big profits when it sold to healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson in February last year. Johnson & Johnson coughed up $3.4 billion upfront for Auris, with an additional $2.35 billion set aside as conditional payments.
Also on Lux Health’s team is Auris Health’s founder, Fred Moll, who is serving as a board member. Moll is a serial entrepreneur and executive in the medical industry who before launching Auris had already founded and sold two medical equipment companies; Endotherapeutics (acquired by United States Surgical) and Origin Medsystems (acquired by Eli Lily).
The experience of a spearheading team usually counts much in the case of an SPAC. In this case, a group of executives who have a recent big deal on their résumé will come in handy when searching for a merger target.
Lux Health Tech Acquisition secured $300 million from investors by selling 30 million share units for $10 apiece. Its public offering was managed by investment banking firm Credit Suisse.
