Bicycle Therapeutics, a UK-based developer of treatments for diseases with a high unmet need backed by corporates Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and Astellas, floated on the Nasdaq Global Market yesterday in a $60.7m initial public offering.
The company issued approximately 4.3 million American Depositary Shares, equivalent to the same number of ordinary shares, priced at $14.00 each, at the bottom of the $14 to $16 range set for the offering, valuing it at $248m. Its shares dropped to $12 by the end of its first day of trading yesterday.
Founded in 2009, Bicycle Therapeutics is working on therapeutics aimed at conditions with a high unmet need, with an initial focus on oncology. It is advancing research by Gregory Winter and Christian Heinis at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology.
The spinout expects to eventually also target other disease areas, and has entered into collaboration deals with a range of biopharmaceutical firms to develop drugs covering antibacterial, cardiovascular, haematology, ophthalmology and respiratory indications.
The proceeds will allow Bicycle to conclude preparations for phase 2 and 3 trials for its lead asset, BT1718, which targets certain forms of ovarian, bladder, endometrial and triple negative breast cancer.
Bicycle has also allocated capital to the advancing two other drug candidates through phase 1a and 2a studies. Its standalone cancer treatment program, CD137, will be progressed through preclinical development and one of the assets will enter a phase 1 trial.
The company raised $52m in a May 2017 series B1 round that included SR One and Novartis Venture Fund, respective investment vehicles for pharmaceuticals firms GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis.
The series B1 round was led by Vertex Ventures HC, a healthcare fund managed by Singaporean state-owned VC firm Vertex Ventures, and also featured Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), the patient capital fund backed by University of Cambridge, as well as Longwood Fund, Ahren Innovation Capital, Atlas Venture and SV Life Sciences.
Bicycle secured another $6.6m in October 2017 that was likelly provided by Ahren Innovation Capital, which returned for a $27.9m series B2 round in December 2018, investing alongside CIC, Aquila Investments and Vertex Ventures HC. Bicycle received a further $1.6m from an undisclosed investor a month later.
The company had already collected $32m in capital in 2014 from Novartis Venture Fund, SR One and Astellas Venture Management, the corporate venture capital fund of pharmaceutical firm Astellas, as well as Atlas Venture and SV Life Sciences. The same five had already supplied $6m in series A funding in 2012.
Unnamed investors had expressed interest in buying up to $25m of shares in the IPO, according to the prospectus. Novartis unit Novartis Bioventures owns a 9% stake, down from 12.7%, while SR One’s 12.2% share was cut to 8.6%.
Other notable investors in Bicycle include Vertex (9.2% post-IPO), Aquila Investments (9%) SV Life Sciences (8.6%), CIC (8.1%), Atlas Venture (6.5%), Ahren Innovation Capital (4.1%) and Longwood Fund (3.9%).
Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, Piper Jaffray and Canaccord Genuity are the underwriters for the offering. They have been granted a 30-day option to buy up to 650,000 additional shares, which would lift its size to $69.8m.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.
