Verastem, a US-based biopharmaceutical company specialising in oncological research set the range for its initial public offering (IPO) at between $9 and $11 a share on Friday.
Net proceeds from the IPO are expected by Verastem to be $46m as long as the underwriters fully exercise their over-allotment option.
Verastem initially filed for a $50m IPO in November, one week before it raised $20m in a series C round that took its overall funding to $68.1m. Verastem’s largest shareholder is Longwood Founders Fund, the venture capital (VC) firm founded by Christoph Westphal, currently the head of GlaxoSmithKline’s corporate venturing fund, SR One.
VC firms Bessemer Venture Partners and Advanced Technology Ventures, VC partnership Cardinal Partners and MPM Bioventures, a subsidiary of private equity firm MPM Capital, are also among Verastem’s shareholders.
Verastem is looking to invest the proceeds in completing preclinical and Phase 1 development of two of its drug candidates and Phase 2 trials for one of them, as well as funding research and development of additional compounds.