IPO Watch: HitIQ hits the ground running with a 30pc gain on debut

Healthcare technology company HitIQ (ASX:HIQ) has made a strong start to life as a public company, as investors sent its share price higher on debut.

Ahead of its IPO, HitIQ raised $10m from investors at 20c per share to push forward with the development of its patented smart mouthguard technology.

After commencing trade at 12pm EST, shares in HIQ opened at 28c and a short time ago were trading at 26c — a 30% premium to its listing price.

HitIQ IPO

The company is looking to execute on a partnership approach with major sports leagues worldwide, while also developing a proprietary data set that can be used towards clinical solutions to concussion management in elite sport.

HitIQ’s core product is a patented mouthguard that incorporates electronic sensor technology to monitor movement and impact, without compromising the mouthguard’s primary function.

Following a 12-month development period, the company gained early traction in the domestic market when it signed a multi-year supply deal with the Australian Football League (AFL).

The AFL deal is based on a subscription (SaaS) revenue model, and will act as “blueprint” for the company’s global expansion plans, CEO Mike Vegar told Stockhead.

“That’s what we’re doing with our trial partners in the US with the NCAA and the UFC,” Vegar said.

“The process is to build a data set, trial it with elite sports leagues and transition into a commercial outcome.”

The company’s goal is to grow into a healthcare tech platform to treat sporting concussions — around 95% of which go undetected in the first instance.

“That’s the main proposition of our technology – it really acts as a surveillance tool which can identify potentially dangerous impacts that traditionally go unobserved,” Vegar said.

While elite sport partnership remain the primary short-term goal for the business, HitIQ’s long-term vision is to develop a proprietary data set that can be licensed by other medical providers and such as hospitals and clinical practices.

On that front, the company plans to launch clinical trials over the next 9-18 months for a various diagnostic assessment tools, based on in-game data collected from its smart mouthguard platform.

Along with sales and marketing expenses for its global partnership push, a component of the IPO funds raised will go towards the development of clinically-backed product suite which will include the use of VR technology, the company said.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While HitIQ is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.