UC Berkeley’s cell therapy developer has filed for an initial public offering.

Caribou Biosciences, a US-based gene therapy developer spun out of University of California (UC) Berkeley, has filed for an initial public offering.
Founded in 2011, Caribou is using Crispr genome editing technology to develop modified cell therapies for the treatment of haematologic cancers and solid tumours.
It plans to use the IPO proceeds to fund the development of its chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) T-cell and natural killer (NK) cell therapies.
The spinout was co-founded by Jennifer Doudna, a professor of biochemistry, biophysics and structural biology at UC Berkeley, and Martin Jinek, then her postdoctoral associate who has since become an assistant professor at University of Zurich.
It closed a $115m series C round the following month co-led by Farallon Capital Management, PFM Health Sciences and Ridgeback Capital Investments.
AbbVie Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of pharmaceutical firm AbbVie, also took part in the round, as did healthcare provider Heritage Medical Systems and cancer charity Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Therapy Acceleration Program.
The round was also backed by Adage Capital Partners, Avego Bioscience Capital, Avidity Partners, Invus, Janus Henderson Investors, LifeSci Venture Partners, Monashee Investment Management, Point72, Maverick Ventures, Pontifax AgTech and funds managed by Tekla Capital Management.
Financial services group Fidelity’s F-Prime Capital subsidiary led a $30m series B round for Caribou in 2016, investing together with pharmaceutical firm Novartis, Heritage Medical, Anterra Capital, Maverick, Mission Bay Capital, Pontifax Agtech and 5 Prime Ventures.
The company raised $11m in a series A round in 2015 featuring Novartis, Mission Bay, 5 Prime and F-Prime Capital (then known as Fidelity Biosciences).
F-Prime Capital is Caribou’s largest shareholder, with a 9.3% stake, followed by agricultural chemical and seed provider Corteva (8.6%), James and Jennifer Doudna Cate Living Trust, a vehicle for Jennifer Doudna (6.3%), PFM Health Sciences, Ridgeback Capital Investments and Farallon Capital Management (5.8% each).
BofA Securities, Citigroup and SVB Leerink have been appointed underwriters for the offering, which will take place on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.
 

Thierry Heles

Thierry Heles is the former editor-at-large of Global University Venturing and Global Corporate Venturing, and was the producer and host of the Beyond the Breakthrough podcast until December 2024.