Stanford spinout Bolt Biotherapeutics has raised more than twice as much as originally planned in an offering that also provided exits for corporates Pfizer, Novo and Fan Fung.
Bolt Biotherapeutics, a US-based oncology therapy spinout of Stanford University, went public on Friday after issuing 11.5 million shares priced at $20 to raise $230m in proceeds.
Shares surged more than 60% to close at $32.15 on the first day of trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, where the spinout is now listed under the ticker symbol BOLT. The company initially aimed for $100m in proceeds when it filed its draft prospectus last month.
Founded in 2015, Bolt is working on antibody drug conjugates aimed at cancer.
It will use $100m of the proceeds to complete an ongoing phase 1/2 trial as well as initiate and complete another phase 1/2 trial and up to three phase 2 studies for its lead asset BDC-1001, which targets solid tumours expressing the HER2 protein.
Another $20m has been allocated to investigational new drug-enabling studies, chemistry, manufacturing and control activities and the launch of clinical development of a second drug candidate. Money will also go towards R&D activities for additional programmes.
Bolt most recently closed a two-tranche $93.5m series C round in January 2021 that was first announced in July 2020 and featured Pivotal BioVenture Partners and Novo as well as pharmaceutical firm Pfizer.
Sofinnova Ventures, RA Capital, Surveyor Capital’s Citadel, Springs Capital, Samsara BioCapital and Vivo Capital also took part in the round, with the full consortium backing both tranches according to Bolt’s prospectus.
Pivotal BioVenture Partners led a $54m series B round in 2019, with commitments from Novo and Vivo Capital. The latter two were also among the investors in a $6m series A round in 2018.
Bolt secured $10m in funding in 2016 and $600,000 in 2015, each time from undisclosed investors, according to regulatory documents.
All shareholders owning more than 5% bought additional stock in the offering and Novo remains Bolt’s largest shareholder with a 13% stake following the IPO.
Other notable shareholders include Vivo (11.2% post-IPO), Sofinnova (8%), Citadel (7%), RA Capital (6.9%), Rock Springs (6.4%) and Pivotal BioVenture Partners (5.5%).
Morgan Stanley, SVB Leerink, Stifel Nicolaus and Guggenheim Securities are the underwriters for the offering and have been granted a 30-day option to purchase approximately 1.73 million additional shares which would, if exercised in full, boost proceeds to more than $264m.