Datavault AI Soars on $10M Biotech License Deal with Scilex
Agreement includes up to $2.55 billion in milestone payments and deepens a partnership initiated by a $150 million strategic investment.
Datavault AI Inc. (Nasdaq: DVLT) saw its shares climb Tuesday after announcing a worldwide exclusive licensing agreement with Scilex Holding Company (Nasdaq: SCLX), a deal that brings an initial $10 million fee and could unlock over $2.5 billion in future payments. The agreement grants Scilex the rights to use Datavault's technology to build a novel 'Biotech Exchange' for tokenizing and monetizing real-world assets in the life sciences sector.
The deal represents a significant validation for Datavault AI, a data technology firm specializing in artificial intelligence and asset tokenization. The $10 million upfront payment alone is highly material, representing approximately 15% of the company's roughly $65 million market capitalization and more than tripling its trailing twelve-month revenue of about $3 million. According to the official announcement, the fee will be paid in four equal installments through September 2026.
Beyond the initial fee, the agreement includes the potential for up to $2.55 billion in sales-based milestone payments, contingent on Scilex achieving specific targets with the new platform. Scilex, a biopharmaceutical firm focused on non-opioid pain management, intends to leverage the platform for the tokenization of assets like genomic data, diagnostic and therapeutic products, and other drug information.
This licensing pact deepens a rapidly forming strategic alliance between the two companies. It follows a separate, major announcement in late September when Scilex made a strategic investment of $150 million into Datavault AI, structured in Bitcoin. That earlier deal was designed to fortify Datavault's balance sheet and accelerate the build-out of its supercomputing and data exchange infrastructure.
The two agreements paint a picture of a comprehensive partnership: Scilex is first capitalizing Datavault AI to ensure its technological scalability and then licensing its core platform to pursue a specific, high-value market vertical. For investors, the dual announcements signal a significant strategic commitment from Scilex, which is not only a customer but also a major equity holder in Datavault AI, pending shareholder approvals.
The news comes amid a period of extreme volatility for Datavault AI's stock. Shares surged over 500% in the month leading into late October before tumbling roughly 40% following a critical report from short-seller Wolfpack Research. Datavault AI publicly refuted the report's claims, calling them 'self-serving and malicious.'
Despite the controversy, some Wall Street analysts remain optimistic. Based on recent ratings, the consensus price target for DVLT stock sits at $7.00 per share, suggesting significant upside from its current levels. The Scilex partnership is central to this bull case, providing both financial runway and a powerful commercial application for Datavault’s technology, which aims to create secure, verifiable digital versions of real-world assets—a market that spans from intellectual property to complex biological data.
For Scilex, a company with a market capitalization of around $122 million, this venture represents a strategic push into the technological infrastructure of the biotech industry. By creating a platform for tokenizing assets, the company could enable new, non-dilutive funding avenues for biotech firms to develop and commercialize their products, positioning itself at the center of a potentially multi-trillion dollar market for pharmaceutical and diagnostic data.