Novo Holdings and Lundbeckfonden Portfolio Company IO Biotech Closes Initial Public Offering on the Nasdaq Global Market

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Nov. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Novo Holdings, a leading international life science investor, and Lundbeckfonden, one of Denmark’s largest commercial foundations funding biomedical sciences research, today note the update from portfolio company IO Biotech Inc. (“IO Biotech”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel, immune-modulating cancer therapies based on its T-win® technology platform.  IO Biotech announced the closing of its Initial Public Offering (IPO) of 8,222,500 shares of common stock at a public offering price of $14.00 per share, for gross proceeds of $115.1 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and offering expenses. The shares are trading on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol “IOBT.”

IO Biotech was created and launched by Novo Seeds, the early-stage investment and company creation team of Novo Holdings, in January 2015. Lundbeckfonden Emerge and Novo Seeds co-led the Series A financing in December 2015, and following the Series B in January 2021, Lundbeckfonden Emerge became the Company’s largest shareholder. Both funds worked closely with the founders to develop a commercially attractive business plan to maximise the potential of IO Biotech’s promising T-win technology platform. Emmanuelle Coutanceau, Partner at Novo Seeds and Christian Elling, Managing Partner of the Lundbeckfonden Emerge are Directors on the IO Biotech Board.

Christian Elling, Managing Partner of the Lundbeckfonden Emerge and IO Biotech Board Member, said: “We congratulate the IO Biotech team on today’s news. As incubators of highly promising Danish biotech start-ups, it is a great pleasure for Lundbeckfonden Emerge, together with the high calibre investor syndicate including our Danish partners, Novo Seeds and Sunstone Life Science Ventures, to continue this collaborative journey on the Nasdaq Global Market with IO Biotech. IO Biotech represents an example of the ambition of Lundbeckfonden to create and support new leading healthcare companies at the frontiers of their fields as part of our 2030-strategy “Bringing Discoveries to Lives”. It is our sincere hope that IO Biotech’s product candidates will one day offer new treatments to patients in need, and we believe the talented team behind IO Biotech led by CEO Mai-Britt Zocca can deliver this.”

Emmanuelle Coutanceau, Partner at Novo Seeds and IO Biotech Board Member, stated: “We are very proud of IO Biotech’s accomplishments to date and congratulate the high-calibre team on such an important milestone. As the original incubator and first investor in IO Biotech, we put in place the key building blocks to enable it to grow and have remained a strong and influential investor throughout the Company’s development. For Novo Seeds, it represents another example of our company creation efforts, identifying and building world class companies that are developing innovative treatments for patients with unmet medical needs.”

About Novo Holdings A/S

Novo Holdings A/S is a private limited liability company wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. It is the holding company of the Novo Group, comprising Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S, and is responsible for managing the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s assets.

Novo Holdings is recognized as a leading international life science investor, with a focus on creating long-term value. As a life science investor, Novo Holdings provides seed and venture capital to development-stage companies and takes significant ownership positions in growth and well-established companies. Novo Holdings also manages a broad portfolio of diversified financial assets. Further information: www.novoholdings.dk

About Lundbeckfonden

Lundbeckfonden is one of Denmark’s largest commercial foundations whose purpose is to strengthen brain health and research in Denmark and to develop the Danish business sector – especially in the life sciences.  The Foundation funds biomedical sciences research – it invests responsibly, sustainably and with a long-term perspective, focusing in particular on healthcare enterprises.

With a focus on improving lives and steering society in a healthier direction its ambition is for Denmark to become a leading research nation, with a flourishing business sector in the field of healthcare and offering exemplary diagnosis and treatment of patients with brain disorders.

The Lundbeck Foundation is worth approximately DKK 65 billion and grants at least DKK 500 million each year to Danish-based biomedical sciences research, focusing particularly on neuroscience.

About IO Biotech

IO Biotech is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel, immune-modulating cancer therapies based on its T-win® technology platform.  The T-win® platform is a novel approach to cancer immunotherapy designed to activate naturally occurring T cells to target immunosuppressive mechanisms.  IO Biotech is advancing in clinical studies its lead immuno-oncology candidate, IO102-IO103, targeting IDO and PD-L1, and through clinical and preclinical development its other pipeline candidates. IO Biotech is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark.

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SOURCE Novo