Silk Road charts new course with upsized $120M IPO listing

Stroke-prevention device maker Silk Road Medical has turned up the heat on its IPO, pricing it at $120 million—well above its previous estimates of $86.25 million.

Now trading on the Nasdaq under "SILK," the company had announced early last month that it would aim to issue 4.7 million shares priced between $15 and $17. Instead, Silk Road Wednesday began offering 6 million shares of common stock at $20 apiece.

And within its first hours on the stock market, shares had already shot up at least 75% to above $35 per share. Additionally, Silk Road granted underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 900,000 shares at the IPO price, less discounts and commissions. The IPO is expected to close April 8, according to the company.

Sunnyvale, California-based Silk Road first began selling its products in the U.S. in 2015, including its minimally invasive system that redirects blood away from the brain during the placement of a stent or a balloon angioplasty—a procedure the company calls transcarotid artery revascularization.

By shunting the blood flow to outside the body, the company’s Enroute system is able to filter out any stray pieces of arterial plaque that may be knocked loose during the procedure, stopping them from floating downstream into the brain where they can cause strokes, blockages or other damage.

RELATED: Silk Road gains extended Medicare coverage for stroke prevention procedure

Silk Road has already raised a fair amount of money: $160 million in venture capital, according to Crunchbase, most recently in a $47 million series C round in 2017.

In terms of product revenue, the company brought in $34.6 million in 2018, a 142% increase compared to $14.3 million the year before. And while its stent and neuroprotection system have also received a CE mark, Silk Road said it plans to pursue regulatory clearances in China, Japan and other markets.

As for the IPO, the company said it will use the proceeds to build up its sales force and commercial operations in the U.S. and abroad, as well as to expand its R&D activities and conduct new clinical studies, according to its prospectus filed earlier this year with the SEC.