Dreamstime
The highflying IPO market got off to a strong start Friday with shares of two biotechnology companies—Cullinan Management and Gracell Biotechnologies—making rousing debuts. Cullinan rose 42.43% in its first day of trading, while Gracell gained nearly 32%.
The offerings continue the trend of ramped-up demand for biotechs. The sector in 2020 emerged as one of the busiest and best-performing of the market for initial public offerings.
Of the roughly 100 health-care IPOs last year, three-fourths were biotechs, raising $20.1 billion, according to Dealogic. Biotechs also delivered some of the best market debuts.
CureVac
(ticker: CVAC), a German biotech that develops vaccines for infectious disease, soared nearly 250% in August, while in July,