Strive To Merge With Semler Scientific, Boosts Bitcoin Holdings To Nearly 11,000 BTC

Strive (ASST) announced on Monday that it will acquire Semler Scientific (SMLR) in an all-stock deal, valuing the company at a roughly 210% premium. 

Semler Scientific’s stock jumped more than 10% at market open, with retail sentiment on Stocktwits climbing to ‘extremely bullish’ from ‘bearish over the past day. Retail chatter also surged to ‘extremely high’ from ‘high’ levels. 

Meanwhile, Strive’s stock slipped more than 4% at market open on Monday, with retail sentiment around the Vivek Ramaswamy-backed company falling to ‘bullish’ from ‘extremely bullish’ territory over the past day and retail chatter slowing down to ‘high’ from ‘extremely high’ levels.

The transaction, which will exchange each Semler share for 21.05 Class A shares of Strive, implies a price of $90.52 per Semler share based on last Friday’s closing prices. Alongside the merger, Strive announced it had purchased 5,816 Bitcoin (BTC) for its corporate treasury at an average price of $116,047 per coin, totaling roughly $675 million.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s price had already fallen to $112,800 after a dip of 2.5% over the past day. This puts Semler’s new Bitcoin purchase at an unrealized loss of around 2.7%. 

The new purchase brings Strive’s total Bitcoin holdings to 5,886. Combined with Semler Scientific’s existing Bitcoin holdings, the merged company would control more than 10,900 Bitcoins, with additional cash reserves set aside to support future perpetual preferred offerings.

The companies said the merger will allow them to explore monetizing Semler Scientific’s diagnostics business while establishing a new management team and broadening its focus on preventative diagnostics. Strive’s current management and board will remain in place once the merger is complete, with Semler Scientific Executive Chairman Eric Semler expected to join the board of the combined company.

The combined company aims to become the fastest-growing corporate Bitcoin holder, employing a “preferred equity only” leverage model, which it said is designed to avoid debt maturity risks associated with leveraged crypto strategies. Strive also stated it will maintain sufficient cash reserves to support future perpetual preferred offerings, while continuing to pursue growth in both digital asset holdings and the diagnostics sector.

Read also: ETH Price Drop Leads $1.6B Crypto Liquidation – DOGE, SOL, ADA Hit Hardest

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