Tenaya Therapeutics, a US-based heart disease treatment developer which counts internet and technology group Alphabet as an investor, has filed for an initial public offering.
The company intends to float on the Nasdaq Stock Market and set a $100m placeholder target for the offering. Morgan Stanley, Cowen, Piper Sandler and Chardan Capital Markets are the underwriters.
Tenaya is developing treatments utilising cellular regeneration, gene therapy and precision medicine for a variety of health conditions affecting the heart. Its treatments are based on research conducted at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Gladstone Institutes.
The company will use the IPO proceeds to advance the development of drug candidates including TN-201, a gene therapy being developed to treat genetic hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetic condition in which the muscles of the heart thicken, making it hard for blood to be pumped through the body normally.
The offering comes after at least $248m in funding since Tenaya was founded in 2016. Alphabet corporate venturing subsidiary GV contributed to a $106m series C round for the company in March 2021 that was led by RTW Investments.
All the company’s existing backers took part in that round, as did investment and financial services group Fidelity, RA Capital Management, The Column Group (TCG), Casdin Capital and funds and accounts advised by T Rowe Price.
Tenaya received $92m in a late 2019 series B round led by Casdin Capital and backed by GV, The Column Group and undisclosed new and existing investors. It had also picked up $50m in a 2016 series A led by TCG.
TCG is the largest Tenaya shareholder, with a 34.4% stake, while its other major investors include Casdin Capital (10%), SymBiosis II, a vehicle owned by Thomas Layton Walton (7.3%), Fidelity (5.9%) and RTW Investments 5.9%.