Bolt Biotherapeutics, a US-based oncology therapy developer backed by property developer Nan Fung and pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Novo, has filed to raise up to $100m in its initial public offering.
Founded in 2015 as a Stanford University spinout, Bolt is developing antibody drug conjugates to treat cancer and will channel part of the IPO proceeds into advancing its lead product candidate, BDC-1001, through a phase 1/2 clinical trial for cancers expressing the HER2 protein.
The company aims to advance an antibody conjugate candidate targeting a native protein known as carcinoembryonic antigen into clinical trials in 2022 and will allocate some of the IPO takings to funding investigational new drug-enabling studies for the candidate.
The offering follows $216m in funding for Bolt, which closed a $51.9m series C2 round earlier this month featuring Novo, Nan Fung’s Pivotal BioVenture Partners Fund, Vivo Capital, Sofinnova Ventures, Surveyor Capital’s Citadel subsidiary, RA Capital Management and Rock Springs Capital, according to the IPO filing.
Sofinnova Ventures led a $93.5m series C round for the company that closed in July 2020 with backing from Novo, Pivotal BioVenture Partners, Pfizer, RA Capital, Surveyor Capital, Rock Springs Capital, Samsara BioCapital, Vivo Capital and unnamed others.
Bolt had previously secured $54m in an early 2019 series B round led by Pivotal BioVenture Partners that also featured Novo and Vivo Capital.
Novo and Vivo Capital were among the participants in a $6m series A round in 2018, the filing states. Bolt had received $600,000 from undisclosed investors in 2015 and $10m the following year, according to securities filings.
The company’s largest investor, Novo, holds a 17.9% stake. Vivo Capital owns a 15% stake, Sofinnova 10%, Citadel and RA Capital 7.5% each, Pivotal BioVenture Partners 7.1% and Rock Springs Capital 6.8%.
The IPO is set to take place on the Nasdaq Global Market, and Morgan Stanley, SVB Leerink, Stifel Nicolaus and Guggenheim Securities have been appointed underwriters.
