Dartmouth-based advanced manufacturing company Meta Materials said Friday it will sell another 83 million of its shares at US$0.30 apiece on the Nasdaq stock exchange to raise US$25 million, or C$33.4 million, sending its stock price tumbling.
Its shares shed 40 percent of their value on the announcement, falling to a low of just under US$0.22 Friday, and its market capitalization slid to just under US$88 million. The company was worth US$2.2 billion when it listed on the Nasdaq via a reverse acquisition two years ago.
“Meta intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for working capital and general corporate purposes, which include, but are not limited to: on-going development of our existing and future products, as well as general and administrative expenses,” said the company in a statement.
Meta’s first commercial venture was making anti-laser coatings for Airbus cockpits, and it has since revealed interests in a dizzying array of business ventures. Its current projects include a film for reflecting 5G radio waves around corners, augmented reality eyeglasses and a system for non-invasive blood glucose testing.
Its 2021 Nasdaq listing netted it about US$160 million, and last June, the company sold more shares for another US$50 million (C$64 million at the time), marking the largest capital raise of the year by an innovation-driven company in Atlantic Canada in both cases.
Meta also went on a buying spree last year. In April, it agreed to purchase Oxford, UK-based Plasma App Ltd., which specializes in the high-speed coating of objects, for US$20 million in stock. In May, it closed its C$90.5 million acquisition of Nanotech Security Corp. of Burnaby, BC, which makes the anti-counterfeit material found in banknotes. And in June, it agreed to buy the assets and intellectual property of Devens, Mass.-based Optodot Corp. for US$48.5 million.
In December, the company had just under US$12 million in cash and short term investments, according to the Wall Street Journal, down from US$50 million the year prior.
