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Highlights
- UK based AI powered drug company Exscientia plans to publicly list on NASDAQ
- The company submitted its initial IPO filing forms called F-1 with the US’ Securities Exchange Commission last week
- Exscientia is expected to raise about US$ 100 million in proceeds from the IPO
Oxford-based artificial intelligence (AI) driven drug firm Exscientia Ltd is planning an initial public offering (IPO) and is expected to raise about US$ 100 million in proceeds after the company submitted an F-1 form to the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) last week.
The pharmatech company plans to list on US’s exchange NASDAQ and have an EXAI ticker symbol.
Exscientia’s IPO highlights
Exscientia, which was founded in 2012, had confidentially filed for a NASDAQ IPO on 21 June, prior to its F-1 submission earlier this month. No pricing and other IPO related details have been disclosed yet.
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Investment banks Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Securities and Barclays are the joint bookrunners for the IPO.
The company had raised up to US$ 225 million in a Series D round of funding in April, with private equity major Softbank leading the round.
The round also included an additional US$ 300 million of commitment in equity funding, which Exscientia can choose to tap into at its discretion. Exscientia had reported up to US$ 14 million in revenues in FY 2021.
Exscientia and Gates Foundation agreement
Exscientia’s SEC filing news comes just after the drug designer firm received a US$ 35 million equity investment from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for a four year collaboration.
Exscientia will also match the US$ 35 million investment, making the partnership worth up to a total of US$ 70 million. The investment will be used to fund the development of covid-19, influenza, Nipah and other virus candidates with pandemic potential.
Gates Foundation made the investment through its Strategic Investment Fund (SIF). Under the agreement, Exscientia has the potential to receive additional funding for furthering the commercial development of other candidates.
Exscientia said it had developed the first 3 AI-powered drug candidates for human clinal trials. The most advanced candidate, developed by the company itself, is the EXS21546, which began its phase 1 trial in December 2020.
Whereas, the other two candidates have been developed in a partnership with Japanese pharma company Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma and are also in phase 1 trials at present.
Bottom Line
Fintech and healthtech companies have increasingly been listing via blank check companies or traditional IPO during this recent IPO boom.
Exscientia’s IPO plans come amidst an IPO boom. The company is among a busy IPO and SPAC pipeline in the US, as 8 IPOs and 8 SPACs submitted their initial fillings in early September.
