All eyes in the ophthalmology industry were on Orange County last month, as Octane’s annual Ophthalmology Tech Summit attracted 550 attendees from across the country to discuss the latest developments in eye treatments, and yet another area eyecare company went public.
Aliso Viejo’s RxSight Inc., maker of what it calls the first artificial lens that can be adjusted after cataract surgery to customize and optimize a patient’s vision, saw its shares begin trading on the Nasdaq under the “RXST” ticker at the end of the month.
The company on July 30 priced nearly 7.4 million shares of common stock at $16 per share, on the low end of its $16 to $18 per share expectations. It raised some $118 million in proceeds from the offering.
Shares were trading higher around $14 as of late last week, giving the company a roughly $375 million valuation.
RxSight makes premium adjustable intraocular lenses used in cataract surgery. It was founded in 1997 as Calhoun Vision, and began sales a few years ago after getting FDA clearance in 2017. In 2020, it reported $14.7 million in sales, up from $2.2 million in 2019. In the first quarter of 2021, it posted $3.5 million in sales, up 17% from year-ago levels.
Proceeds from the IPO will be used to support commercial expansion, including hiring additional commercial personnel, and for product development, research activities and clinical development, regulatory filings indicate.
RxSight was one of three OC companies to go public via a traditional IPO late last month, alongside Costa Mesa banking software firm MeridianLink Inc. (NYSE: MLNK) and boutique fitness franchisor Xponential Fitness Inc. (NYSE: XPOF).
See the July 19 print edition of the Business Journal for more on RxSight.
Local Cluster
RxSight’s largest investor is a fund managed by Bill Link, one of OC’s top medtech investors.
Link, whose fund counts a 7.6% stake in the company, leads the Newport Beach-based outpost of venture capital firm Flying L Partners, and serves as managing director of San Francisco-based Versant Ventures.
Link was among the panelists at the Ophthalmology Tech Summit held at Newport Beach’s Balboa Bay Resort.
Two other area public companies where he serves as a director, San Clemente eye stent firm Glaukos Corp. (NYSE: GKOS) and drugmaker Tarsus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: TARS) also had panelists at the summit, one of the signature events held by Octane, an incubator for tech and medtech firms.
Those firms were joined by a bevy of industry heavyweight from OC and across the globe.
The Octane event “is this massive amalgamation of some of the brightest minds,” said Warren Foust, worldwide president, Surgical Vision, Johnson & Johnson Vision.
It’s an “amazing connection between industry and entrepreneurs and clinical experts who do wonderful work,” said Foust, whose division is based locally.
The event also featured Octane Chairman Jim Mazzo in a virtual interview with Alex Gorsky, chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), who discussed how the pandemic has changed healthcare.
Other notable locals include Caren Mason, CEO of Lake Forest’s eye implant maker Staar Surgical (NYSE: STAA), and Ramin Valian, vice president of a glaucoma-related division of Allergan.
The Buzz
“The buzz of industry was incredible,” said Bill Carpou, chief executive at Aliso Viejo-based Octane, speaking of the event.
Octane helps entrepreneurs develop pitches in specific fields like aesthetics and fintech and then introduces them to influential investors. It aims to create 55,000 high-paying tech jobs in Southern California by 2030.
The organization is scheduled to host a High Tech Awards event in September and a MedTech Innovation Forum in October. Octane is leading an initiative to build up Orange County as a global epicenter of artificial intelligence in health, Carpou said.
