Finance Watch

Public Company Edition: Upstream grossed $255m and CAMP4 raised $75m in October’s first initial public offerings. In follow-on offerings, Crinetics and Scholar Rock brought in $500m and $300m, respectively. Also, Turnstone cut 60% of its workforce and Gritstone filed for bankruptcy.

Public Company Edition: Septerna, Apimeds, CAMP4 and Upstream filed paperwork with the SEC aiming to take advantage of renewed investor interest in IPOs. Also, Biohaven closed a $287.5m offering and Grifols subsidiary GigaGen obtained up to $135m from BARDA.

Private Company Edition: ARCH raised more than $3bn for its eighth fund, Frazier added $630m to its public fund that also can back crossover rounds, DCVC’s third biotech fund totaled $400m and Asabys raised €180m ($200m) for its second fund. Also, Aktis closed a $175m series B round. 

Public Company Edition: BioAge will fund a Phase II trial of its muscle atrophy prevention drug in combination with an obesity drug with its initial public offering proceeds. Also, Ascendis and Wave raised $281.3m and $200m, respectively, after positive clinical trial readouts.

Private Company Edition: Vicebio plans to take a combo vaccine into Phase I with its $100m series B venture capital round. Also, Nura Bio raised $68m to boost its series A total to $141m and George Church-founded GC Therapeutics launched with $75m, among other recent VC deals.

Public Company Edition: Follow-on public offerings brought in $500m for Nuvalent, $235m for Summit and $225m each for Centessa and Viridian after recent readouts. Also, Kairos raised $6.2m in this year’s 19th IPO, Bayer sold €750m ($834m) in bonds and an Ionis FOPO grossed $500.3m.

Private Company Edition: Bain will invest across private and public drug, device, diagnostic and tool companies. Also, Candid debuted with $370m in initial funding, Superluminal closed a $120m series A round, PanTera raised €93m ($102.4m) in series A cash and F2G brought in $100m.

ArsenalBio closed one of the largest VC rounds so far in 2024, raising $325m in series C funding, while Vaxcyte grossed $1.3bn in a follow-on offering. Also, Circle Pharma closed a $90m series D round and Jazz priced an $850m note sale, but IN8bio revealed a prioritization plan and job cuts.

Fifteen biopharma firms have launched IPOs in the US this year, but three more have joined the queue. Also, Galderma sold CHF500m ($590.7m) in bonds to pay down debt, Noetik raised a $40m series A round and ImCheck collected €20.18m ($22.4m) from the French government.

Restructuring Edition: BioMarin’s layoffs are associated with strategic shifts announced during its second quarter update. Also, Repare reduced its workforce by 25% as it focused in on clinical-stage programs and Aadi cut 80% of its R&D team to conserve cash after a clinical trial failure. 

BridgeBio spun out oncology assets in May to focus on rare diseases and now it has sliced off a few rare disease candidates for GondolaBio. Also, Avidity and Kymera closed follow-on offerings that grossed $345.1m and $225m, respectively, and Vandria extended its series A round to $30.7m.

Restructuring Edition: Lykos recruited a J&J veteran to help its slimmed-down staff resubmit its MDMA-based PTSD therapy. Also, Lexicon cut its field force by 50%, or 75 jobs; Viracta cut its solid tumor program and 23% of its workforce; and Boundless Bio streamlined with moderate job cuts.

Public Company Edition: Actuate Therapeutics grossed $22.4m in its first-time offering, while already-public companies recently tapped a variety of sources for funding. Arrowhead negotiated a credit facility for up to $500m and ANI sold $275m worth of notes, among other financings.

Private Company Edition: Symbiotic Capital emerged with a $600m-plus fund to provide credit for private and public companies, while venBio raised a $528m fund. Also, Outpace Bio raised $144m, Jade Biosciences launched with $80m and MBX Biosciences raised $63.5m.

Public Company Edition: OS Therapies launched this year’s smallest initial public offering, to fund its lead program in osteosarcoma. Also, Australian firm Telix, after opting out of a US IPO, grossed A$650m ($425.5m) from investors at home. Day One raised $175m in a private placement.

Restructuring Edition: Vir will end influenza, COVID-19 and T-cell-based viral vector platform programs to focus on clinical hepatitis and cancer assets. Also, FibroGen cut 75% of its workforce after a clinical trial failure, while Arbutus, HilleVax, Pfizer and others also announced layoffs.

Private Company Edition: Venture capital investment has moved into a slower summer pace, or maybe just shifted to small- and medium-sized biopharma financings. In addition to Third Arc’s $165m series A round, Brenig raised a $65m series A and Confo’s series B totaled €60m ($65m).

Restructuring Edition: Financial market conditions are improving, but gains have not stopped some companies from cutting costs or shutting down. MEI may wind down if it does not identify another strategic alternative and Aslan has begun to liquidate, while others have cut jobs.

Private Company Edition: After its acquisition by an investor earlier this year, NGM Bio has raised a $122m series A round, adding to a recent surge in large venture capital financings. Also, Vanqua Bio disclosed $45m in new funding and Renalys completed a $38.4m series A.

Public Company Edition: The IPO market in the US cooled in Q2, but a warm-up may come in Q3 alongside new SPAC merger opportunities; Artiva may be the next biopharma firm to go public. Also, IDEAYA and Recursion grossed $302.4m and $200m, respectively, in follow-on offerings.