US-based small molecule therapy developer Rapt Therapeutics, which counts pharmaceutical company Celgene and internet technology group Alphabet as investors, has resubmitted plans to go public with a $75m target.
The company initially filed in July this year to raise up to $86.3m in an initial public offering, and set a range that would have netted it $70m to $80m two weeks later. It announced the following month it was postponing the offering but never formally withdrew.
The planned offering will still take place on the Nasdaq Global Market and Wells Fargo Securities, BMO Capital Markets and UBS remain underwriters, though Bank of America Merrill Lynch is no longer involved. Rapt is yet to set terms for the IPO.
Rapt is developing oral small molecule therapeutics to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases. The IPO proceeds will fund development of FLX475, a cancer drug candidate for which it is set to conduct phase 1/2 clinical trials, and RPT193, a candidate for inflammatory skin disease atopic dermatitis that entered clinical testing in August this year.
Rapt closed a $97m series C round featuring Alphabet subsidiary GV, Celgene, The Column Group (TCG), Kleiner Perkins, T. Rowe Price and Topspin Partners in June this year that took its overall funding to $176m.
Celgene had already joined TCG, Regents of the University of California, Topspin Partners and Kleiner Perkins’ predecessor firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) in the company’s $50m series B round, which was disclosed in 2016 in tandem with $29m in series A funding.
TCG is Rapt’s largest shareholder, with a 33.4% stake, followed by KPCB Holdings (19.3%), Topspin Partners (11.7%) and Regents of the University of California (7.3%). The IPO filing also identified healthcare network Hartford Healthcare as an investor.
