Twist Bioscience, a US-based DNA synthesis technology developer backed by corporates Illumina, WuXi PharmaTech, Kangmei and Institut Mérieux, went public on Wednesday in a $70m initial public offering.
The company issued 5 million shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market priced at $14.00 each, the foot of the IPO’s $14 to $16 range, valuing it at $381m. Its shares briefly reached $14.90 but closed at $13.91 yesterday.
Twist has created a DNA synthesis platform that enables users to produce synthetic DNA on a silicon chip, and is using the technology to develop products such as synthetic genes, sample preparation tools and antibody libraries that can be used in drug discovery.
Up to $20m of the IPO proceeds will be used to strengthen Twist’s technology, while $15m to $18m will go to upgrading its sales and marketing activities across the US, Europe and Asia.
An additional $12m to $14m will fund Twist’s expansion in the biologics drug discovery and DNA data storage markets, and up to $10m will support the establishment of its operations in China.
The company had received more than $291m in funding from investors including genomics technology provider Illumina and pharmaceutical companies Kangmei, WuXi PharmaTech and Institut Mérieux between the start of 2016 and July 2018 according to the IPO prospectus.
GF Xinde Life Science Investment Fund, Arch Venture Partners, Paladin Capital, Tao Capital, FIS, NFT Investment, Bay City Capital, Biomatics Capital, Reinet Fund, 3W Partners Capital, Overage Fund, Cormorant Asset Management, Ditch Plains Capital Management and Boris Nikol also contributed to the total.
Twist had previously raised $82m in debt and equity financing including a $37m series C round in 2015 that was led by Illumina and backed by Fidelity, Foresite Capital Management and existing investors Arch Venture Partners, Tao Invest, Paladin Capital Group and Yuri Milner
Illumina bought approximately $1m shares but its 7.7% stake was cut to 6.5% in the offering. Arch Venture is Twist’s largest shareholder after buying just over $1m of stock to take its 14.8% stake to 12.4%.
GF Securities subsidiary Ever Alpha has a 12.1% stake post-IPO, Tao Capital invested $5m in the offering to increase its stake to 6.1% while Paladin Capital invested $2.45m to come out with a 4.7% stake, and Fidelity has a 4.6% stake.
JP Morgan Securities and Cowen and Company are joint book-running managers for the IPO while Allen & Company and Robert W. Baird are co-managers. They have the option to buy another 750,000 shares which would boost the size of the offering to $80.5m.
