Emailed on August 14, 2020 in The Friday Forward

The race to a COVID-19 vaccination is heating up, and some players are raising capital on the public markets.

CureVac, a German Phase 1 biotech company developing mRNA-based cancer therapies and vaccines as well as a potential COVID-19 vaccine, announced terms for its IPO.

Here's the breakdown provided by Axios:

• COVID-19 is the biggest story in the world right now and any company that can potentially contribute to the fight is a big deal.

• It plans to raise $200 million by offering 13.3 million shares at a price range of $14 to $16. The company plans to raise an additional $118 million in a concurrent private placement to insider Dietmar Hopp. At the midpoint of the proposed range, CureVac would command a market value of $2.6 billion. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol CVAC. BofA Securities, Jefferies, Credit Suisse, Berenberg and Kempen are the joint bookrunners on the deal.

• The more vaccines in the pipeline, the better the chances of curbing this.