The IPO Buzz: Kardigan (KARD) Upsizes IPO & Prices it at $16 – Top of Range

Kardigan (KARD), a cardiovascular biotech, upsized its IPO at pricing to 25 million shares – up from 23.3 million shares in the prospectus – and priced the deal at $16.00 – the top of its range – to raise $400 million on Wednesday night, June 17, 2026. Kardigan’s stock is expected to start trading tomorrow – Thursday, June 18 – on the NASDAQ. At pricing, Kardigan had a market cap of $1.43 billion. Kardigan’s IPO had been marketed at a price range of $14.00 to $16.00.

J.P.Morgan and Jefferies led the joint book-running team, with, Leerink Partners and T.D. Cowen as joint book-runners as well.

Kardigan (KARD), run by a team of former MyoKardia executives, is a Phase 2B/Phase 3 biotech evaluating three late-stage cardiovascular drugs to treat heart conditions for which there is currently no treatment:

*Danicamtiv – A pill to treat genetic dilated cardiomyopathy (“DCM”) – in Kardigan’s KINSHIP-DCM Phase 2B/Phase 3 adaptive randomized placebo-controlled trial – Kardigan plans to release topline Phase 2B trial data in the first half of 2027;

*Ataciguat – A daily pill to slow the progression of calcific aortic valve stenosis (“CAVS”) in patients with moderate disease – in Kardigan’s KATALYST-AV Phase 2B clinical trial – Kardigan expects to share Phase 2B trial data in 2027.

*Tonlamarsen – A monthly injection – a liver-directed antisense oligonucleotide (“ASO”) targeting hepatic angiotensinogen (“AGT”) to manage blood pressure in acute severe hypertension (“ASH”) post-hospitalization – in the company’s KARDINAL-ASH Phase 2 trial – Kardigan aims to share topline Phase 2B trial data in the first half of 2027.

Kardigan’s co-founders and top executives have a common background. They worked previously for MyoKardia, Inc. with a proven track record in cardiovascular drug development, including the successful development and approval of mavacamten for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the prospectus said.

Kardigan’s Prolaio platform, its proprietary data and analytics platform, is synchronized with third-party wearable wrist sensors and Kardigan’s AI-driven analytics to enable automated continuous physiologic data collection from patients in their daily lives outside the clinic at a higher frequency compared to traditional clinical trials, the company said in the prospectus. Kardigan refers to this as “real-world data,” according to the prospectus.

Principal shareholders are ARCH Venture Partners and HRTG Partners – each with a stake representing 22.4 percent of the outstanding stock ahead of the IPO, the prospectus said. After the IPO, ARCH Venture will hold a 16.5 percent stake, while HRTG Partners will hold a 16.6 percent stake.

Other principal shareholders include Perceptive Advisors, with a 12.7 percent pre-IPO stake and a 9.3 percent stake after the IPO, and Fidelity Management & Research (FMR), with a 6.9 percent pre-IPO stake and a 5.1 percent stake after the IPO, the prospectus said. T. Rowe Price is also a shareholder.

Kardigan, like most biotechs when they go public, has a track record of net losses and no revenue: Kardigan had a net loss of $229.99 million on no revenue for the 12 months that ended on March 31, 2026, according to the prospectus.  

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Source: https://www.iposcoop.com/the-ipo-buzz-kardigan-kard-upsizes-ipo-prices-it-at-16-top-of-range/