OrbiMed leads $70m round for Mereo

Participants included Vivo Capital, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), Pontifax Venture Capital, Samsara BioCapital, Commodore Capital and funds managed by Janus Henderson Investors, alongside existing investors Boxer Capital of Tavistock Group and Aspire Capital Fund.

The round will consist of the placement of new ordinary shares at 17.4 pence per share to raise $19.4m, and convertible loan notes for the principal amount of $50.6m.

Investors have received conditional warrants to subscribe for further ordinary shares in an aggregate number equal to 50% of both the new ordinary shares purchased by that investor in the placing and the ordinary shares issuable upon conversion of the convertible loan notes purchased by that investor in the fundraising, with an exercise price of 34.8 pence per warrant. The warrants will be capable of being exercised for a period of three years after the date on which the resolutions are passed.

Mereo has also announced plans to advance Etigilimab (Anti-TIGIT) into a phase-Ib study in Q4 2020, alongside progressing its rare disease product portfolio.

None of the proceeds of the fundraising will be used to make any dividend or distribution, or repurchase shares from any shareholder.

Previous funding
Woodford Investment Management and Invesco provided $119m to the company in 2015.

An undisclosed investor provided £14.8m in equity in 2016, and in 2017 Kreos Capital and Silicon Valley Bank provided debt financing of £20m.

Company
Mereo BioPharma is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialisation of therapeutics that aim to improve outcomes for oncology and rare diseases. Based in London, the company was founded in 2015.

The company's loss after tax for 2018 was £32m, down from 2017's loss of £38.8m.

Advisers
Company – SVB Leerink (corporate finance).

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• Topics
• Early-stage
• UK / Ireland
• Healthcare
• healthcare
• United Kingdom