Harvard-linked Sana Biotechnology will raise as much as $397m if it floats at the upper end and underwriters take up the greenshoe option.
Sana Biotechnology, a US-based stem cell medicines developer based on research at Harvard University, has set its price range at $20 to $23 and plans to issue 15 million shares in its IPO on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
The company has also allocated an additional 2.5 million shares to the overallotment option. It stands to receive proceeds in between $300m at the lower end and, if underwriters take up the greenshoe option in full, as much as $397m at the upper end.
The company’s earlier filing two weeks ago had envisaged only $150m in proceeds.
Founded in 2018, Sana Biotechnology’s approach enables cell therapies that can hide from the body’s immune system and thus avoid triggering an undesired immune response.
The company had raised $700m by June 2020 but disclosed in its draft prospectus that this “initial financing”, as it had called it at the time, actually consisted of multiple rounds.
Arch Venture Partners and financial services group Fidelity’s F-Prime Capital unit supplied $1.1m in convertible note financing in September 2018, converting this as part of a $45.9m series A-1 round the following month, when CEO Steve Harr, chairman Hans Bishop and general counsel James MacDonald also invested.
The company then added $216m in series A-2 capital in February 2019, collecting another $7.9m in an October 2019 extension, backed by Arch, Flagship Pioneering, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP), F-Prime, Harr and Bishop.
Arch, CPP, F-Prime, Harr and MacDonald subsequently injected more than $435m in series B funding in June 2020.
Sana’s shareholders also include GV, an early-stage investment arm of internet technology group Alphabet, as well as Baillie Gifford, Alaska Permanent Fund, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, Bezos Expeditions, Omega Funds, Altitude Life Science Ventures and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
Proceeds have been allocated to the development of the company’s in-vivo and ex-vivo cell engineering platforms, as well as preclinical trials for all candidates for each platform. They will also support manufacturing capabilities and drive R&D activities.
Arch Venture Partners holds a 27.5% stake in Sana, which is set to be reduced to 25.1%. Other notable shareholders include Flagship (19.5% post-IPO), CPP (5.3%) and F-Prime (4.7%).
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and BofA Securities have been hired as joint bookrunnning managers.
