Sixth Street-backed Caris lifts IPO price range, eyes $5.7 billion valuation

Audio By Carbonatix

By Arasu Kannagi Basil and Pritam Biswas

(Reuters) – Cancer diagnostic firm Caris Life Sciences on Monday raised the proposed price range for its New York initial public offering, targeting a valuation of up to $5.67 billion and indicating a strong demand for fresh stock flotations.

The Irving, Texas-based company is marketing the IPO of nearly 23.5 million shares between $19 and $20 apiece, compared with its earlier range of $16 to $18 per share. The IPO will raise $470.6 million at the higher end of the revised range.

“Underwriters don’t corral a narrow band unless the order book is thick enough to support it — otherwise they’d leave wiggle room for last-minute indigestion,” said Michael Ashley Schulman, chief investment officer at Running Point Capital.

U.S. IPOs have been showing signs of a sustained revival, with some high-profile names delivering strong debuts in recent weeks, after President Donald Trump’s tariff indecision dampened deal activity earlier this year.

Digital bank Chime’s shares surged 59% during its Nasdaq debut last week, giving the company a valuation of $18.4 billion.

Other big names such as Swedish fintech Klarna and crypto exchange Gemini are currently in this year’s IPO pipeline.

Founded in 2008 by CEO David Halbert, Caris uses artificial intelligence to study the genetic code from a patient’s DNA, RNA and proteins and create personalized cancer treatment plans.

The company has run more than 6.5 million tests in 849,000 cases and currently works with over 100 biopharma partners, including Moderna, and AbbVie.

Caris raised $830 million at a $7.83 billion valuation in a Sixth Street-led 2021 funding round. It is also backed by J.H. Whitney, one of the oldest U.S. private equity firms.

BofA Securities, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are the lead underwriters for the offering.

Caris is expected to start trading on the Nasdaq on Wednesday under the symbol ‘CAI’.

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil, Pritam Biswas and Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)