Light AI (CBOE CA: ALGO) announced the completion of its IPO (including the agents’ full exercise of their over-allotment option) and began trading on CBOE Canada today.
Including the units sold pursuant to the over-allotment option, a total of 33.6 million units were issued under a long form prospectus offering for aggregate gross proceeds of C$18.5 million. Each unit was comprised of one common share and one-half of one share purchase warrant, and each whole warrant entitles the holder to acquire one share at $0.80 per share for a period of 18 months.
The units were sold at C$0.55 each. The stock traded as high as C$0.80 and closed at C$0.65 on strong first-day trading volume of around 1.6 million shares.
Light AI is focused on developing artificial intelligence health diagnostic applications. The company is developing a technology platform which applies AI algorithms to smartphone images (starting with images of StrepA) to identify the disease in seconds. Its patented, app-based solution requires no swabs, lab tests or proprietary hardware of any kind, and its hardware platform is the 4.5B smartphones that exist in the world today.
In pre-FDA validation studies, Light AI’s algorithm achieved a 96.57% accuracy rate that is comparable to the “Gold Standard” swab culture currently used for diagnosing GAS. Furthermore, the algorithm attained a Negative Predictive Value (“NPV”) of 100%, indicating its high reliability in confirming the absence of StrepA infection.
Viral and GAS pharyngitis affects over 600 million people annually worldwide. If left untreated, GAS pharyngitis can lead to serious complications such as Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD), which imposes a global economic burden exceeding $1 trillion annually. Light AI’s technology offers a significant advancement in the accurate and timely diagnosis of GAS pharyngitis, potentially reducing the incidence of RHD and its associated costs.
Light AI’s approach to applying AI to smartphone images can be expanded to other throat conditions, as well as other areas of analysis, such as the human eye and skin. Light AI’s vision is to combine the smartphone with AI in-the-Cloud to create a Digital Clinical Lab that provides quick and accessible diagnosis for countless conditions that today require expensive and time-consuming imaging or lab processes.
