Medirom Healthcare Stock Dips On Series A Equity Raise: Retail’s Divided

NFES Technologies Inc. is the lead investor in the latest financing round.

Medirom Healthcare Technologies ($MRM) ADR shares were down 12% on Monday, even as the Japan-based wellness salon operator announced a series A equity raise by its subsidiary.

Medirom subsidiary Medirom Mother Labs Inc. has raised an aggregate total of 260.3 million yen, or about $1.7 million, at a pre-money equity valuation of JPY9 billion, or about $58.6 million in its Series A equity financing, the company said in a statement.

The firm noted NFES Technologies Inc. was the lead investor in the financing round, along with several other public companies in Japan, including M3 Inc. and Elematec Corp. Certain individual investors also participated in the round. Medirom Mother Labs has closed financings with six investors to date and hopes to complete this round by December 31.

“We are very excited that our Medirom Mother Labs subsidiary has received such significant validation from strategic partners as our lead investor NFES Technologies Inc.,” Kouji Eguchi, Medirom’s CEO, said in a statement. “The pre-money valuation of 9 billion yen is approximately multiples of Medirom’s current NASDAQ listing market capitalization…further validates our technology, business model, and growth potential.”

Retail chatter on Stocktwits indicated a mixed take on the stock.

Medirom operates over 300 wellness salons across Japan under its Re.Ra.Ku brand.

Shares of the firm are down 80% year-to-date.

(Calculations based on an exchange rate of JPY153.64 to $1)

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