Gritstone bio, Inc. announced that it expects to receive $80 million in funding
July 18, 2022
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Gritstone bio, Inc. announced that it has entered into a loan and security agreement for private placement of 60-month term loan facility for gross proceeds of up to $80,000,000 on July 19, 2022. The transaction included participation from new lenders, Hercules Capital, Inc., Silicon Valley Bank, and other financial institutions or entities. The company expects to receive funding in over five tranches. The company expects to receive up to $10,000,000 in its second tranche closing on or prior to March 15, 2023, and the remaining $50,000,000 in tranches which are subject to the achievement of certain performance milestones through June 15, 2024. The loan bears interest (i) at an annual cash rate equal to the greater of (x) the lesser of (1) the prime rate (as customarily defined) and (2) 5.50%, in either case, plus 3.15%, and (y) 7.15% and (ii) at an annual payment-in-kind rate which may equal 2.00%. Interest is payable monthly in arrears on the first business day of each month and on the maturity of the agreement. The company may prepay all or any portion of the outstanding borrowings during the first three years after closing, depending on the year of such prepayment. The loan is secured in nature.
The company also paid $150,000 as the facility charge upon closing and shall pay a facility charge equal to 0.5% of the principal amount of any borrowings made pursuant to the amounts under the last four tranches. The agreement also provides for an end of term charge equal to 5.75% of the aggregate original principal amount of the loans so prepaid or repaid, as applicable.
On the same date, the company has raised $20,000,000 in its first tranche closing. The company has drawn $20,000,000 in principal amount till date. Hercules Capital, Inc. and its affiliates hold 75% and Silicon Valley Bank holds 25% of the remaining term commitments under the Loan Agreement.
Gritstone bio, Inc. is a biotechnology company. The Company discovers, develops, manufactures and delivers next generation cancer and infectious disease immunotherapy candidates. It has developed two vectors that it deploys with the aim of eliciting the desired immune response: self-amplifying mRNA (samRNA) and chimpanzee adenovirus (ChAd). Its two oncology programs in clinical-stage development are GRANITE, individualized neoantigen-based immunotherapy, and SLATE, an off-the-shelf shared neoantigen-based immunotherapy. It has an infectious disease pipeline, which includes two programs in clinical-stage development: CORAL, a second-generation COVID-19 vaccine program that may have pan-coronavirus potential to protect against future coronavirus pandemics, and an HIV therapeutic/cure vaccine candidate. In oncology, it develops personalized vaccines that aim to destroy tumors through CD8+ (killer) T cell recognition of tumor cells by virtue of their surface display of neoantigens.