San Diego’s Hempacco, a maker of nicotine-free hemp cigarettes, managed to pull off something that few local companies have done this year — price an initial public stock offering. It comes on the heels of two strong years where the spigot for companies going public was wide open. Only two tiny San Diego companies have priced IPOs in 2022 — Hempacco and Belite Bio, which went public in April. Last year, 14 San Diego companies went public, corralling $4.1 billion, based on data from Connect San Diego and IPOScoop.com, an industry research firm. The company has trademarked the phrase “Disrupting Tobacco.” Hempacco’s in-house brands are sold in 200 locations in the San Diego region.

Source: thestar September 15, 2022 04:10 UTC