IPO Wrap: Potential Arm and Canva listings could jolt IPO market as this AI stock gets set for ASX debut

• Potential IPOs of Arm and Canva could give market a boost
• Abacus Storage King was the lone ASX lister in last two weeks
• We look a the upcoming ASX IPO listings in August

The global IPO market has been in the doldrums for a couple years now, but it could be on the verge of a resurrection following the announcements of a couple of potential big listings.

SoftBank’s British chip design unit, Arm, plans to float its shares in an IPO on the Nasdaq in September, with a market cap expected to be north of US$60 billion.

According to the Nikkei, leading global chipmakers – including Apple, Samsung Electronics, Nvidia and Intel – will acquire Arm shares from Softbank as soon as the company is listed on the market.

Headquartered in Cambridge, Arm is a critical player in the global semiconductor industry, and was previously courted by US chipmaker Nvidia.

Arm’s sales reached US$2.8 billion in FY22, as its power-sipping designs have given it a global market share of more than 90% for smartphone chips.

In another potential IPO blockbuster this year, Aussie juggernaut Canva has given hints of a potential listing which could value it at US$40 billion.

The latest valuation further confirms Canva’s status as one of the fastest-growing software companies in history, having started from zero only in 2012.

Canva runs a freemium model where creators can use graphics designs for free initially, with an option to pay for a premium upgrade later on.

“A resurgence in global IPO activity is anticipated to start late 2023 as economic conditions and market sentiment gradually improve with the tight monetary policy entering its final stage,” said a report from EY.

How ASX IPO listings in 2023 are faring

On the ASX, there was just one IPO listing over the past month.

Storage King owner, Abacus Storage King (ASX:ASK), was listed last week at $1.41 but has since dropped to $1.26 today.

Abacus is Australasia’s largest self storage company, with a huge network of storage locations across Australia and New Zealand. It also sells boxes and packing materials.

Meanwhile, the best performing IPO stock in 2023 has been Leeuwin Metals (ASX:LM1), with a gain of almost 50% since debut.

Leewin explores critical metals vital for electric vehicles and renewable energy, and has projects located in Canada and Western Australia which are highly prospective for nickel, copper, PGEs and lithium.

In July, the company announced that a Rare Earth Elements (REE) anomaly has been identified from assays received from the 1,000-soil sample program collected at the Gascoyne Li-REE Project in WA.

The second best performing IPO is Evergreen Lithium (ASX:EG1), which has climbed by 20% since listing.

Evergreen’s flagship Bynoe lithium project is adjacent to Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) and its producing Finniss mine in the Northern Territory.

Back in March, Evergreen’s chief technical advisor Jason Ward told Stockhead the company is more than just about being next door to a big deposit.

“The initial geochemistry found really big lithium anomalies and they appear to be right next to Core Lithium’s anomalies and contiguous with them,” he said.

“It’s not simply a nearology play, they’re contiguous geochemical samples to their mine.”

Dynamic Metals (ASX:DYM) meanwhile has risen by 10% since listing.

Dynamic is the successful spin-off from Jindalee Resources (ASX:JRL), and is progressing exploration across  its portfolio of projects in the critical minerals space in WA.

In an announcement on Monday, Dynamic said a Programme of Work (PoW) has been approved for high priority RC drilling at recently granted Democrat tenement, part of its flagship Widgiemooltha Project.

Drill rig and exploration crew are now set to mobilise to site by the end of August.

Upcoming ASX IPO listings

All dates are sourced from the ASX website. They could change without notice.

Cleo Diagnostics (ASX:COV)

Expected listing: August 17
IPO: $5m at $0.20

Cleo is a medical diagnostics and devices development company.

The company’s product makes early diagnosis of ovarian cancer a reality with a simple and accurate blood test.

Its flagship is the CleoDX platform, a test kit designed to detect a novel protein biomaker CXCL10 in the blood which is present very early and through all stages of ovarian cancer.

After blood is collected, risk evaluation is performed and an assessment is made by Cleo’s proprietary algorithm.

Curvebeam AI (ASX:CVB)

Expected listing: August 23
IPO: $25m at $0.48

CurveBeam AI develops and manufactures a range of specialised medical imaging (CT) scanners and supporting clinical assessment software.

Based in Melbourne, the company is said to be a a leader in cone beam CT imaging, paving new frontiers in artificial intelligence (AI)-based bone and joint analysis.

Curvebeam’s technology involves deep learning AI (DLAI) expertise, which it delivers across orthopedics and bone health (fragility fracture prevention).

Ashby Mining (ASX:AMG)

Expected listing: August 24
IPO: $15m at $0.20

AMG is developing a gold production business in the Charters Towers region in Northern Queensland, and has secured rights to a land package covering over 600km2 containing historical mines, mineral resources, highly prospective exploration potential and a gold processing plant.

The 340Ktpa Blackjack Processing Plant is a conventional Carbon in Pulp (CIP) plant, located 15 minutes from Charters Towers.

The Far Fanning gold project lies on a permitted Mining Lease with historical production of 47,200oz gold from 664,000t of ore at average 2.2g/t gold.