The IPO Buzz: Artiva Biotherapeutics Sets Terms & Launches $130.5 Million IPO

Shortly after sunrise, Artiva Biotherapeutics, Inc. (ARTV Proposed) disclosed the terms for its revived IPO and launched the $130.5 million deal for pricing this week. Artiva Biotherapeutics is offering 8.7 million shares at a price range of $14.00 to $16.00 to raise $130.5 million, if the IPO is priced at the $15.00 mid-point. The market cap would be $263.7 million, assuming mid-point pricing. This is a NASDAQ listing. Jefferies, TD Cowen, Cantor, Wedbush PacGrow and Needham & Company are the joint book-runners. Its bankers plan to price Artiva Biotherapeutics’ IPO on Thursday night, July 18, 2024, to trade Friday, July 19, on the NASDAQ. Artiva Biotherapeutics, based in San Diego, is developing its lead product candidate, AlloNK, an NK (a Natural Killer) cell therapy – in combination with B-cell targeted monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) – in an ongoing Phase 1/1b trial in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with or without lupus nephritis (LN) and a basket investigator-initiated trial (IIT) in multiple autoimmune indications. The company expects to report initial data from at least one of those clinical trials in the first half of 2025. “To our knowledge, AlloNK was the first allogeneic, off-the-shelf NK cell therapy candidate to receive Investigational New Drug application (IND) clearance to be administered to a patient with an autoimmune disease in a U.S. clinical trial, and to receive United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Fast Track designation in an autoimmune disease,” the prospectus says. This IPO represents Artiva Biotherapeutics’ second attempt at going public. The company withdrew its original IPO filing on Nov. 1, 2022, its SEC filings show. Artiva Biotherapeutics has licensing and collaboration revenue, according to its S-1/A filing. Its financial statements show a history of net losses – typical for a biotech when it goes public. Artiva Biotherapeutics reported a net loss of $25.97 million on licensing and collaboration revenue of $32.75 million for the 12 months that ended March 31, 2024, according to financial statements in the prospectus.