Kailera Therapeutics completed a record-breaking $625 million IPO, selling 39 million shares at $16 each, surpassing Moderna's $604M IPO from 2018.
The Waltham, MA-based company, led by CEO Ron Renaud, trades on Nasdaq under ticker 'KLRA' starting Friday.
CEO stated 'knew we were in a good spot' prior to the upsized offering, which exceeded initial expectations of $458.7M net proceeds.
Funds will support injectable ribupatide through global phase 3 trials to Q2 2028 ($625M), oral ribupatide phase 3 from Q2 2028 ($150M), and other assets like KAI-4729 and KAI-7535.
Kailera previously raised $400M Series A in 2024 and $600M Series B in 2025, totaling $1B in venture funding for its obesity pipeline licensed from Jiangsu Hengrui.
Underwriters have a 30-day option for additional 5.8M shares, potentially adding $92.8M.