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Sharps Technology, a medical device and pharmaceutical packaging company that offers smart safety syringe products, announced the closing of a private placement of more than $400 million and the launch of a digital asset treasury strategy, with the principal holding being the cryptocurrency SOL.
The company previously announced the private placement offering of common stock and stapled warrants with a purchase price of $6.50 per unit. At the closing, the transaction generated more than $400 million, with an additional $600 million possible if all warrants are exercised, increasing the potential total proceeds to $1 billion.
Sharps Technology's stock is currently trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker STSS at around $14.40 per share.
Investors include financial institutions and digital asset firms such as Bastion Trading, ParaFi, FalconX, Pantera, Monarq, RockawayX, Saba Capital, Syncracy, Arche Capital, Arrington Capital and others.
The New York-based company said it will primarily use the proceeds to acquire the cryptocurrency SOL, a digital asset of the Solana blockchain, and establish its digital treasury operations.
Sharps stated that it will use the additional funds for working capital and other general corporate purposes.
A single SOL is currently trading at around $209.46, down from its high of $295 in January.
However, Sharps said it signed a non-binding letter of intent with the Solana Foundation, which has agreed to sell $50 million SOL at a 15% discount to a 30-day time-weighted average price.
"Solana is capable of handling any tradable asset, everywhere in the world and demand is only increasing," Alice Zhang, chief investment officer and board member of Sharps Technology, said in a statement.
"With the backing of premier financial and digital asset investors, we believe we are well equipped to execute on our vision with our team's extensive experience in the Solana ecosystem."
THE LARGER TREND
Some medtech players are turning to cryptocurrency as a vehicle for investment and ownership in digital health companies.
In June, Goldeneye 1995 LLC, an affiliate of fintech investor and Ripple's former chief risk officer Greg Kidd, purchased a controlling interest in health monitoring company Know Labs using 1,000 Bitcoin and some extra cash.
Know Labs is a U.S.-based medical device company that develops non-invasive health monitoring tools using radio-microwave spectroscopy to help identify and measure molecules inside and outside of the body.
Goldeneye purchased the company's common stock by adding the value of 1,000 Bitcoin (selling at the time around $105,160.57 per coin) and some extra cash.
To determine how many shares the LLC received, the total value of the Bitcoin was divided by the company's share price of $0.335.
Know Labs stated at the time that it planned to keep the 1,000 Bitcoins as part of its financial reserves or assets.
Bitcoin has since increased in value and is currently trading at around $108,625.79.
