Aratana Therapeutics, a US-based biopharmaceutical company developing medicines for cats and dogs, plans to raise $57.5m in its flotation on the Nasdaq stock exchange just a few months after closing its series C round.
Investment banks Stifel and Lazard are lead underwriters of the initial public offering with legal counsel from Latham & Watkins and Dechert. Shareholders include MPM Ventures (24.97% pre-IPO stake), Avalon Ventures (23.78%), Cultivian Ventures (8.62%) and RaQualia Pharma Inc. (11.43%).
In February, Aratana raised $12m in its series C round.
Investors included RaQualia Pharma, which provides clinical and pre-clinical candidates for human patients and owns 11.43% of Aratana. Other investors in the C round were state-backed Kansas Bioscience Authority and venture capital (VC) firms Cultivian Ventures (8.62%), Avalon Ventures (23.78%) and MPM Capital (24.97%).
In December 2011, Aratana raised $15m in its B round from its VC firms and family office Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and $20m in an A round at the start of that year.