Textile materials technology innovator HeiQ (LSE:HEIQ) became a publicly listed company on the London Stock Exchange Main Market at 08:00 a.m. GMT today. The admission follows an oversubscribed placing and subscription, raising £60 million (before expenses).

HeiQ is a global, profitable pioneer in the $24 billion textile chemicals market, directly serving the $10 billion antimicrobial textile market with its recent Swiss Technology Award-winning HeiQ Viroblock technology. Founded in 2005, HeiQ has grown into a high growth, cash generative company which employs more than 100 people around the world.

The company has created some of the most effective, durable and high-performance textile technologies in the market today which cool, warm, dry, repel, purify and stop viruses. So far, HeiQ has developed over 200 technologies in partnership with over 300 major brands, including Burberry, GAP, New Balance, Patagonia, Speedo, The North Face and Zara.

Today’s listing is a major milestone for HeiQ, and we are delighted to welcome our new investors aboard the ship

The company’s shares were admitted to the Standard Segment of the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority at 8:00 am on Monday 7 December 2020 by way of a reverse take over into Auctus Growth Plc. The admission follows an oversubscribed placing and subscription, raising £60 million (before expenses) from institutional and other investors.

Led by an experienced management team, HeiQ rapidly researches new solutions for partners, quickly delivers scaled up manufacturing from its sites across the world and helps partners market the product to end consumers – aiming for lab to consumer in a matter of months.

HeiQ’s latest innovation, HeiQ Viroblock, is an award-winning antimicrobial technology which helps in the fight against enveloped viruses, including SARS-CoV-2 (the virus causing COVID-19). This technology is already being used by more than 150 major brands such as Burberry.

The Company’s aim is to deliver growth for its shareholders by driving increased sales of HeiQ’s core products and by entering additional lucrative markets through disruptive innovations:

- Increasing market penetration of core innovations, including HeiQ Fresh AIR (developed for a leading Swedish home furnishing retailer); HeiQ Smart Temp (used by Japan’s biggest casual wear retailer and American clothing brand, Hanesbrands, Inc.) and HeiQ Clean Tech (winner of the Swiss Environmental Award in 2019).

- Building on the significant momentum achieved by HeiQ Viroblock: developing HeiQ’s licensing and royalty business, which will see the brand name HeiQ Viroblock licensed together with the technology to third parties in return for royalty payments.

- Developing new disruptive innovations: numerous projects in the R&D pipeline, including HeiQ GrapheneX for industrial filtration. The industrial filtration market was over $29 billion in 2020 - CAGR of 6.9% from the period of 2020 to 2025.

HeiQ Co-Founder & CEO Carlo Centonze commented: “Today’s listing is a major milestone for HeiQ, and we are delighted to welcome our new investors aboard the ship. We have spent the past 15 years building HeiQ to become one of the leading textile materials innovators in the world, and the cash generative profile of our business demonstrates the success we have experienced. “

“The fundraise will enable HeiQ to build on the significant momentum achieved so far in 2020. There are many opportunities to capture more market share through increased sales of our core products to major brands. These have grown 17% in the first half of the year and, in parallel, we have entered lucrative new markets with additional innovations,” Mr Centonze continued.

HeiQ Chief Financial Officer Xaver Hangartner added: “The antimicrobial market, which has grown into a mainstream request, also presents a compelling growth opportunity going forward. The launch of HeiQ Viroblock more than doubled HeiQ’s revenue in the first half of 2020. We look forward to innovating the antimicrobial field and regularly updating the market regarding new partnerships and contracts in the future.”

HeiQ Website