Finance Watch

Private Company Edition: Two companies raised multiple hundreds of millions of dollars each helping to keep the number of $100m-plus venture capital mega-rounds on the rise in May. Also, Ascend raised $132.5m to make gene and cell therapies, and Nido emerged with $109m for neurological diseases.

Public Company Edition: Seven companies revealed $2.1bn worth of royalty financings in the first quarter of 2023 and the deals keep coming in Q2, with uniQure monetizing Hemgenix royalties for up to $400m. Also, Legend grossed $350m in a follow-on offering and Athenex is liquidating via bankruptcy. 

Public Company Edition: J&J’s consumer health spinout Kenvue grossed $3.8bn in its public market debut and Acelyrin raised $540m in an upsized IPO. Also, Seres accessed $250m in new debt for Vowst commercialization while follow-on offerings raised $325m for ImmunoGen and $240m for Morphic. 

Private Company Edition: Venture capital mega-rounds of $100m or more held steady in April after a slow January and February then a surge in March, but VC fundraising is down overall this year. In recent raises, Enveda series B expanded to $119m, Vedanta brought in $106.5m and Convergent raised $90m.

Public Company Edition: With the XBI up more than 9% in April, a few follow-on offerings –$23m to support Gamida Cell’s small product launch and $500m to fund Vaxcyte’s large clinical trial program – have made it to market. Also, China’s CytoMed launched the sixth biopharma IPO in the US this year.

Private Company Edition: Forbion closed two funds totaling €1.35bn ($1.5bn) and Glide Healthcare raised €600m ($657.5m) for its latest fund, joining recent venture capital raises by Lux Capital and Wellington Management, but in the first quarter biopharma VC company financings fell dramatically.

Public Company Edition: ImmunoGen received the first $75m under a $175m term loan, while Protagonist raised $100m in a follow-on offering, but companies with bankruptcy filings and job cuts outpaced those accessing new capital by a wide margin in late March and early April.

Private Company Edition: In the first week of April, Cure Ventures launched with a $350m fund, the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Fund received $200m for its venture philanthropy strategy and Canaan revealed $850m in new funds. Also, OnKure raised $53.7m and Phlow closed a $36m series B round. 

EQT Life Sciences completed the final close of its inaugural LSP Dementia Fund, far surpassing an initial $100m fundraising goal. Also, Resilience received a $410m commitment from the Department of Defense to fund biomanufacturing and Viking cashed in on Phase I obesity data with a $250m offering.

Restructuring Edition: After reporting record revenue, but lower profits due to rising costs, Ferring has decided to consolidate R&D in Europe. Also, Codiak has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will sell off its assets, while Exicure, Applied Molecular Transport, Gamida Cell and others revealed new job cuts.

Private Company Edition: Flare Therapeutics, targeting transcription factors to discover precision medicines, had big pharma backing for its second venture capital financing. Also, Mediar closed a $10m series A round, Switch launched with $52m and EpiBiologics raised a $50m series A round.

Public Company Edition: The closure of Silicon Valley Bank sank biotech stocks in the first full week of March, but valuations rose the next week when two big acquisitions were announced. Also, J&J’s consumer health spinout sold $7.75bn in notes ahead of its future IPO and Karuna grossed $400m in a follow-on offering.