Schrödinger, a US-based drug development software provider backed by corporates Wuxi AppTec and Alphabet, set the terms yesterday for an initial public offering that will raise $160m if it floats at the top of its range.
The offering is set to consist of 10 million shares issued on the Nasdaq Global Market priced between $14 and $16 a share. The company filed to raise up to $100m in the IPO last week.
Schrödinger provides software that helps researchers discover and optimise molecules for drug development more quickly. It made an $18.5m net loss from $59.7m in revenue over the first nine months of 2019.
The IPO comes in the wake of a $110m series E round that closed in May 2019. It was led by $50m from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and backed by pharmaceutical firm Wuxi AppTec’s Corporate Venture Fund and internet technology group Alphabet’s GV unit.
Invus, Pavilion Capital, Tubus Management, Laurion Capital Management, Baron Funds, Deerfield Management and Qiming Venture Partners also contributed to the round.
Hedge fund DE Shaw owns a 45.3% stake in the company while Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation holds 17.6%. No other investor has a stake sized at 5% or more. Bill Gates’ investment vehicle, Cascade Investment, has been an investor in Schrödinger since 2010.
Should underwriters Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities, Jefferies and BMO Capital Markets take up the option of buying a further 1.5 million shares through the over-allotment option, the size of the offering could increase to $184m.
