For second straight year, Minnesota added more public companies than it lost

The moves outpaced the number of public companies that moved, were acquired or otherwise went dark. That's on top of 2020, the first time in a decade or more the state had more public companies than the year before.

Last year, the Star Tribune added freshly minted public companies Sun Country Airlines and Agiliti Inc. to its list of the top 50 largest public companies in Minnesota, while SkyWater Technology just missed out, finishing at No. 53.

The IPO market continued to be hot through the rest of 2021 and brought to market Bright Health Group in the largest ever IPO by a Minnesota company.

Life Time Group Holdings Inc. returned to the public stock market after a six-year run as a private company. Plus, two small med-tech companies had IPOs: CVRx Inc., a company that treats heart failure symptoms with a medical device that uses neuromodulation; and Miromatrix Medical, which is developing a way to bioengineer fully transplantable organs.

Fresh Vine Wine was one of the last companies to complete an IPO before the market soured. The Plymouth-based company is backed by Hollywood celebrities Julianne Hough and Nina Dobrev.

The companies join established public companies like 3M and General Mills, plus two more companies, JAMF Holdings and Trean Insurance Group, that completed IPOs in 2020.

The IPO market cooled considerably going into this year. According to Renaissance Capital, the U.S. had only 18 IPOs in the first quarter, the fewest for a quarter in the past six years.

Deals that have resulted in public companies through avenues such as special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, also have slowed as the market and regulators have become more skeptical of the arrangements.

Minneapolis-based SharpLink Gaming illustrated another way of going public. It merged with an Israeli public company and then effectively took over the listing and changed the company name and ticker symbol.

Minnesota lost one company when in 2020 GWG Holdings, a small financial services company, moved its headquarters from downtown Minneapolis to Dallas.

However, SunOpta moved its headquarters from Toronto to Minnesota in 2020 and planted its Minnesota roots deeper when it moved to a new Eden Prairie headquarters building this winter. SunOpta is a leading producer of plant-based milks.

In March, Communications Systems completed its long complicated deal to sell off its legacy businesses in order to merge with home solar company Pineapple Energy, acquire more home solar companies and secure additional financing. The new company took the Pineapple Energy name and changed its ticker symbol from JCS to PEGY.

In January 2021, Plymouth-based Christopher & Banks filed for bankruptcy. It looked like that would be the end for the women's clothing retail brand. But iMedia Brands acquired its online operations and some other assets, giving new life to the brand on its ShopHQ home shopping platform.

Payment processing company Sezzle Inc., based in Minneapolis, was publicly traded on the Australian stock exchange and was looking to move to a major U.S. exchange. But in February, it announced a merger agreement with Australian competitor Zip Co. Ltd. in a $370 million deal that is expected to close in the third quarter.

There's a surprising connection to other Australian public companies that have connections to Minnesota, namely a number of med-tech firms that are basically based here but are traded publicly on Australian exchanges.

No. 33 on last year's list, MTS Systems, also was acquired. In April 2021, Connecticut-based Amphenol Corp. bought the Eden Prairie-based testing and sensors company for $1.7 billion. It kept the sensors business and sold MTS Test & Simulation to Illinois Tool Works for $750 million.

Smaller Minnesota public companies also were acquired in 2021: Altaris Capital Partners bought Arden Hills-based med-tech operation Intricon Corp.; and cryptocurrency company TeraWulf bought Duluth-based Ikonics in a plan to sell the legacy business, rename the company and move it to Maryland.