Restoration Robotics (“HAIR”) IPO

2019 update: Restoration Robotics has merged with Canada based Venus Concept (VERO).


Restoration Robotics is a privately held company that manufactures the world leading ARTAS robotic hair transplantation system that I have discussed on this blog several times in the past. This robot has revolutionized follicular unit extraction from the back of patient scalps during an FUE hair transplantation procedure. In future, ARTAS may also become an expert at hair placement in the front and crown of patient scalps.

I just found out that Restoration Robotics will undertake an initial public offering (IPO) on the NASDAQ stock exchange tomorrow October 12th, 2017. The company’s stock ticker will be “HAIR”, which was surprisingly not already taken. They aim to price shares at between $7 and $9 and will issue 3.1 million of them. Restoration Robotics had $20 million in revenue last year, but was not yet profitable.

I have done limited basic stock trading in my life, but will be keen to follow this IPO tomorrow even though I do not intend to buy. I do want to learn how an IPO works at the get go and follow real-time trends. For any financial experts who care to comment:

  • How easy is it for the common man to purchase stocks during an IPO? Any website recommendations?
  • Will “HAIR” start trading as soon as the NASDAQ market opens at 9:30 am or will it be later in the day?
  • Did Restoration Robotics have to make public significant financial details regarding its past few years of operations/performance before being allowed to proceed with the IPO?

ARTAS Twitter Account.

69 thoughts on “Restoration Robotics (“HAIR”) IPO”

  1. 1) You can try to buy stock as soon as the company officially IPOs, however, your purchase will be electronically queued behind all of the institutional investors who will be part of the “book”. Any online trading site should allow you to try an purchase. You will likely not be able to get “the IPO price” assuming the IPO goes well and there is an immediate pop.

    2) HAIR will not start trading right away. The final “book” needs to be settled. This is essentially the final negotiations between the banks bringing the company public and the groups that will be buying major chunks of shares so that they can converge on a final IPO price.

    3) Don’t know the answer to this for sure, but probably not. Once they are public, they will need to begin filing more information with SEC. $7 per share is the minimum share price that the Nasdaq likes to accept so there may have been some financial engineering in the background to get it to that point.

    1. 3) for sure companies going public need to disclose prior financials otherwise there would be no reference point for the share price. For example the company could have operating income of 1 dollar and have an IPO price of 1000. There would be no way to know if this would be a good deal or if he comapny could even continue as a going concern even. The form can be found on both the sec and nasdaq sites. A review of the statements shows they do not yet have profitable operations as they are making large investments in R&D and sales/marketing. The IPO will allow them to raise capital much easier and advance their R&D efforts.

      http://secfilings.nasdaq.com/filingFrameset.asp?FilingID=12325210&RcvdDate=10/13/2017&CoName=RESTORATION%20ROBOTICS%20INC&FormType=424B4&View=orig

  2. I’m 9 years in 10 thousand hours plus trading experience. Buying at Ipo isn’t a good idea usually its best to wait a bit and then buy .. Its a wild rode the first week or two

    1. 10000hrs in 9 yrs? So im gonna assume this was your day job? I hope you invested in apple because you remind me of Forrest Gump.

  3. Interesting….I wonder how artas will do when hair cloning like Tsuji will come out. I’m assuming ht doctors will adopt this Tsuji method in the future aND will need an artas robot to place 100,000 hairs to the scalp. Highly doubt a doctor will place one graft by one. This could be a good stock…but then again Tsuji method will be injecting hair follicle cells right or is he growing them into follicles that an artas robot can transplant?

    1. ARTAS will do just fine because Riken will be using Kyocera’s proprietary machines and not ARTAS.

      Further, plenty of people will still opt for FUE/FUT even if Tsuji happens because it will be colossally expensive.

        1. If I get a HT, I would 100% get an FUT. Don’t be a victim of marketing mate, it’s the sensible option, regardless of the scar scaremongering which goes on.

        2. Indeed Paul, “it’s the current year.”

          If Tsuji succeeds, it’s only in Japan for years yet and coupled with the already high price, many people who want more hair (especially low Norwoods) are not going to shell out that kind of money when they can get a good FUT done for a lot less.

          I know that sounds shocking and impossible to believe, but it’s true for the same reason why soft contact lenses are still more popular than LASIK.

          and like I said, Kyocera will be using proprietary machines.

              1. FUT has the greatest survivability for the hair grafts, so it gives better results per graft and per dollar. The con is the scar.

                1. This is not controversial. It is widely established. The loss of the fatty tissue around the graft leaves the hairs much more vulnerable in FUE. In one of the studies below one of the patients had about 50% less survivability in the fue area than the fut area which is not typical yet it shows the difference can be quite large and it is not insignificant. You can ask any good surgeon or technician on which one has less survivability. I have personally heard from 3 ishrs surgeons.

                  See below for a couple of the many studies. These are quite recent:

                  Here is a 2017 study that goes over the different tyles of damage done to the hair in FUE that are not done in FUT:

                  Various Types of Minor Trauma to Hair Follicles During Follicular Unit Extraction for Hair Transplantation.
                  Park JH, et al. Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open. 2017.

                  Here is a small study:

                  https://www.anastasakishairclinic.gr/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/1.FUE-vs-FUT-MD_Study-of-1780-follicles-in-4-patients-vs.pdf

                  1. So…FUE is better than FUT right? How we can improve survival graft with FUE? Mother of god…hair loss industry is deplorable…

                    1. They both have their pros and cons fue can be good depending on your donor and goal. Generally its better for smaller operations since its recovery its way faster.

  4. Good post. I would really like to know the relationship between Tsuji / Riken and Restoration Robotics. If Tsuji is successful (it probably is so) we will soon have news of some further alliance.

    The best hair loss forum. Thanks @admin.

    New paper Garza et al. And again Follica pathway.
    The Negative Regulator CXXC5: Making WNT Look a Little Less Dishevelled.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28967390

    Thanks.

    Paul Pheonix.

  5. It’s awesome…Millions of men and women are claiming for a new treatment…Hopefully new treatments will be here “soon”.

  6. “A new discovery about a drug developed for Alzheimer’s patients might replace fillings for cavity repair. Tideglusib stimulates stem cells in the pulp of teeth, promoting new dentine production and natural tooth repair.”

    We can regrow teeth now. Still not hair…. but maybe this a positive sign of things to come.

    1. This was done in like 2000 or something. All these researchers are just bsing getting paid for crap. If its a mouse model research don’t even post it on here. No point because 90%of the time it won’t translate to humans and if it does it will take 15 yrs before reaching the market. 2020 is our target:) Follica, tsuji, sisheidi and whoever is secretly working on a treatment. If these don’t pan out well then f it. It will be propecia, rogaine, prp and fue, and rugs. Sad but to be honest the dentistry field hasn’t advanced that much either. They were able to grow teeth in 2005 and said it was 5 yrs away from being used in dentist offices instead of implants. 12 years later they are still using dental implants and you see more research about teeth being grown in labs. Look they have a cure for baldness. They can grow all the hair you want….it’s either being blocked by someone from hitting market or the sides are very bad and not safe to use. But they can grow your hair back. I just find it impossible to believe they can’t regrow a miniaturized follicle when they can grow vaginas in a lab. Sorry for the rant lol

        1. Main part of story deals with findings that came out a few months ago and were covered on this blog. But not from the year 2000 like “mjones” says.

          1. It’s not useless admin. Don’t be in denial. You have been in the game as long as I have. It’s the same song and dance with these researchers. Maybe it wasn’t 2000 but it was around the early 2000s Elaine Fuchs grew hair on her husband’s arm from hair cells. It was a big breakthrough 15 yrs ago. Now we are still doing the exact same thing but with mice. It’s just one giant cyclical repetitive pattern of research, breakthrough, small progress then back to square one. Only person actually moving forward for us is Cots. Btw lol remember that interview you had a while back? The one where you mentioned driving uber…forgot what the exact topic was but I noticed you used my name Jones as your name on that article interview haha. Somebody deep down likes mjones and his posts haha:)

            1. Nice try. They put the name Jones in there without asking me :-) I would have preferred a Greek name.

              This new article covered 2017 USC work not 2000 Fuchs work. Cots has been moving forward for 25 years. He beats us for longevity.

              1. Haha sure sure whatever you say admin. It’s nothing to be shy about. Mjones is the name to have or if you wanted Greek you could say mjonopoulos haha. Yes cots has been in the longest haha I agree so he better give us a treatment asap! But my main point is all these researchers just come out with new research, ghost then repeat for the past 25 years. If a new treatment even only as effective as Propecia or rogaine were to come out every 3 years since 1998 it could give those people who aren’t good responders to fin,min a chance to hold on to their hair or for those like me where current treatment lost effectiveness we could hop on those treatment for a reboot of effectiveness. Just only fin and min as fda treatments is sad since 1998.

      1. Lol now you say “good find” and “promising” for the same link posted twice before in this comment thread where you previously found nothing good in the development. Mjones you are very strange and I doubt you even read through the linked article.

        1. Either way this won’t be released for 10 to 15 years. So as promising as it is…it’s nothing to get really excited about until we can get our hands on it right? It’s just the reality of it admin…not trying to be a debbie downer. As Paul phoenix says we need new treatments now. Hair loss industry is sad.

  7. I agree that the frustration with these researchers is there. How many times can you hear or watch about “baldNess break through” before you get numbed by the advertisement. But what bothers me the most is histogen. That was the bridge that many of us were thankfull for. I think we all knew it was prp on steroids but it was something that worked and was “just around the corner”. That is still the #1 thorn in my side. Something tells me histogen was trying for a financial home run when they should of been happy with a stand up double. They would have made lots of $ by this point.

    1. Tom I agree bro. I was very interested in histogen back in 2011 thinking they would release a solid treatment for by 2014. I guess they really never had a true solution. Just lies.

  8. Just waiting for 2018. still three months.. Hope To have Some really good news by mid 2018 in around 9 Months. Replicel Fidia and follica rain. Will probably do everything i can to get every threatment. But i Guess my dutasteride eating will Last another 3 years, by then the dutasteride will definetly loose it’s Effects…

  9. No one is planning a 2018 release but Shiseido using a slightly different version of Replicel’s technology. According to their stock it appears someone might be front running the stock up, Shiseido might not be a full cure but if it is those early investors are going to make a lot of money

    1. If sisheido can fully stop the progression of further baldness then that in my opinion is huge! If it can make the existing dying hairs thick and terminal and revive some miniaturized hairs that is even better. I think follica, susheudi and fue could revert nw4 to a nw1. Maybe not complete thickness of nw1 but if it can give the illusion and you can’t see through the hair during sunlight then that’s a good combo solution.

    2. It amazes me how you guys can follow sites like these daily, have the same information everyone else does, and yet still have completely nonsense opinions or outright misinformation — all this does is give people not in the know bad info.

      It has been said for the last two years now that a 2018 release for Shiseido’s product is possible pending the completion of their pivotal trial next year, and I stagger to think that NOT the plan when they’ve previously constructed a purpose-built facility for the product. Same deal with Follica, who is to begin their pivotal in a few months time and has also anticipated a release sometime in 2018 and their remaining trial is just for the in-office device.

      But “no one is planning a release in 2018′ just lol

      1. Are you a complete beginner? We’ve been down this road 1,000 times. Everyone promises the sky – nobody delivers. Don’t be so damn naive.

        1. Funny, coming from a guy with a “tofacitinib lotion” moniker.

          Anyway, the reality is you’ve been promised nothing (aside from snake oil salesmen). I haven’t been around for decades, but I have read a ton of the research, penned articles about it for HLT, etc.

          In the last 15 years, there have only been two companies that anyone had any reason to be excited about; but both ran into tech hurdles and insufficient funds to carry on. Neither of these promised anything.

          Shiseido and Follica don’t “promise” a release in 2018 either, but to say they don’t “plan” it is ridiculous. These companies are close. Unless results are tremendously disappointing, there isn’t much reason the former should be far off the target date and the latter is literally a year and some change at worst away from a market launch. Frankly, it would take an absolutely catastrophic setback to stop Follica at this point.

          The only company that has legit been a letdown and sold a line of BS to everyone was Histogen, but I guess that shouldn’t be a surprise from a company choosing to run their trials in one of the most corrupt countries on the planet.

          Still, articles you read in 1985 about how the cure was “five years away” from some starry-eyed futurist writing in some rag mean nothing; it’s the here and now that matters.

          You haven’t been down this road a thousand times — you’ve just been told that you were on it.

          1. Lets make something clear- Shiseido’s trial is already over. It is just the data that has not been prepared completely and released so at this point insiders know a bit that we don’t yet it does not seem like they are closing down the facility. We will know soon enough though.

            I own a chunk of Repli that Ive bought on the cheap. If the data is good I stand to make a killing due ro the opportunities it will open. If it is bad, Ill loose some real money.. Go replicel! Make daddy proud. Repli stock has been moving up so hopefully a sign of good things to come.. crossing my fingers

  10. “Buckler said the RepliCel’s technology should be available to the general public by sometime next year in Japan, though it may take several more years to see it on the market in the U.S. as clinical trials will still have to be completed here and the data submitted to the FDA, though the 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act) may help it along.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/robinseatonjefferson/2017/09/29/company-uses-patients-own-cells-to-put-an-end-to-baldness-aging-skin-and-tendon-degeneration/#be66b8893f2d

  11. Shiseido started phase 2 years ago and has no phase 3 requirement in Japan replicel has said they will be at market next year. Follica puretechs own website says they are still in phase2 and this blog reported a delay in that.

    Shiseido will be the soonest available product we can buy.

    1. Puretech’s website was updated to say that the pivotal trial begins in the first half of 2018. Previously, it was slated to begin in this half of 2017, with a market launch in 2018.

      So it’s a setback of 6 months at worst — we should have it late next year or early 2019 at the worst.

      1. you mean “at best”?

        and the website says the trial is “expected to initiate”. sounds like they already know it wont happen.

        1. Btw I would like to be wrong on this please let me know if I am. I just don’t see how you can complete a phase 3 trial in a few months and be at market that same year

            1. To give a more thorough explanation:

              Clinical trials glossary defines pivotal study as:

              “Usually a phase III study which presents the data that the FDA uses to decide whether or not to approve a drug. A pivotal study will generally be well-controlled, randomized, of adequate size, and whenever possible, double-blind.”

              The FDA slides showing “different stages of development” on page 19 shows that it goes EFS > Feasibility > Pivotal > Post Market Surveillance.

              The pivotal study is for the in-office device and their site says they’ve already run three clinical trials (so the other things obviously passed) and like I said, it would be mind-blowing if that failed.

              Will be here in late 2018 or early 2019 unless something really, really bad were to happen.

            2. I can’t find any detail in the link beyond the summary. Any idea what electrodynamic microneedling is or how it might differ from just plain microneedling? Electrodynamic is defined as the interaction of electric currents with magnetic fields or with other electric currents. Not sure if this refers to the electrical stimulation that naturally occurs when you microneedle or if it is some type of new microneedling device.

  12. Ultimately, it is a machine that automates a process that does not yet give the desired end result due to limited donor hair.

  13. @Dim: too bad the study didn’t also investigate if patients had any sexual or other sides? Also with all the hair vitamins out there I’m surprised a company doesn’t make a supplement similiar to the ones used in the study.

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