Rallybio, a US-based rare disease therapy developer backed by conglomerate Mitsui and real estate developer Nan Fung, raised $80.6m in its initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Select Market last week.
The company issued 6.2 million shares priced at $13 each. Shares closed at $17 on Friday, and the company currently has a market cap of nearly $523m.
Founded in 2018, Rallybio is working on treatments for rare and severe conditions. Its assets include RLYB211, which is aimed at maternal alloimmunisation, a condition whereby a foetus’s antigens are attacked by the mother’s immune system.
Proceeds from the offering have been allocated to completing clinical trials for several programmes, including a phase 1/2 study for RLYB211. Money has also been set aside for its joint venture with drug developer Exscientia looking at therapeutics for rare metabolic diseases.
Pivotal BioVenture Partners, a healthcare investment vehicle formed by Nan Fung, led a $145m series B round in May 2020. Mitsui and Fidelity, through Mitsui & Co Global Investment and F-Prime Capital respectively, also took part in the series B round.
The round additionally included Viking Global Investors, Solasta Ventures, the Rise Fund, Fairview Capital, 5AM Ventures, Canaan Partners, New Leaf Venture Partners, Connecticut Innovations and funds managed by Tekla Capital Management.
5AM Ventures, Canaan and New Leaf had co-led a $37.6m series A round shortly after it was founded, investing together with Connecticut Innovations.
5AM Ventures holds an 11.5% stake following the offering, followed by Viking (10.9%), Canaan (7.5%), Rise Fund (7.2%), New Leaf (6.4%), F-Prime, Pivotal and Tekla (5.4% each).
Jefferies, Cowen and Evercore ISI are the joint book-running managers. They have been granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 930,000 shares.
