Vietnamese diagnostic testing startup Gene Solutions is preparing for a Hong Kong initial public offering as early as the second quarter of next year, a rare local firm seeking to access deeper capital markets and boost international visibility.
The Ho Chi Minh City-based company is currently in the pre-IPO stage and expects to complete a $50 million Series C fundraising round by the end of the third quarter, Chief Executive Officer Nguyen Hoai Nghia said in an interview. Gene Solutions is seeking to raise about $100 million through the share offering and begin trading in Hong Kong between the second and third quarters of next year, he said.
Gene Solutions, which specializes in non-invasive prenatal testing and early cancer screening using genetic sequencing technology, is targeting a valuation of around $800 million, depending on market conditions. Ahead of the listing, the company aims to meet Hong Kong’s revenue threshold by generating about $90 million by the end of this year, Nghia said.
ALSO READ: Hong Kong bourse posts record profit on listings, trading
“Vietnam has built a robust foundation of clinical, technical, and computational talent capable of fostering early-stage life science innovations,” said Dr Basil Lui, founding partner of Singapore-based August Global Partners, which has a stake in the company. “However, transforming into a prominent regional hub requires companies to successfully scale beyond domestic borders.”
Gene Solutions joins a handful of Vietnamese companies exploring offshore listings as they seek broader investor bases. Ride-hailing operator Green and Smart Mobility JSC, known as GSM, said last year it was considering an overseas IPO that could value the company at roughly $20 billion. Vingroup’s electric vehicle maker VinFast started trading on the Nasdaq in August 2023.
Gene Solutions has expanded aggressively across emerging markets, with laboratories in Singapore and Vietnam and partner labs in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, Nghia said. It has also recently entered markets including Turkiye, Brazil, India and the US, he said.
The company aims to grow annual revenue to about $350 million by the end of the decade and increase the number of tests processed each year to 4 million, up from more than 650,000 last year. It’s already profitable in Vietnam and expects its international operations to break even in the fourth quarter, before turning profitable globally within the next 12 months, he said.
Vietnam-focused private equity firm Mekong Capital first invested $15 million in Gene Solutions in 2021 through its Mekong Enterprise Fund IV. The firm followed with an additional $21 million investment in the company’s 2023 Series B round to support its Southeast Asia expansion strategy.
