ONWARD Medical raises €20M

ONWARD Medical N.V. announced that it successfully raised an amount of €20 million in gross proceeds by way of an accelerated bookbuild offering through a private placement with institutional investors, certain founders, and certain management and members of the Board of Directors of 4,307,641 new ordinary shares via the Joint Bookrunners and a separate public offering via the PrimaryBid platform with retail investors in France of 136,803 new ordinary shares (the “Public Offering”), representing a total of 4,444,444 new ordinary shares . New Shares were offered at an issue price of €4.50 per share.

“We are delighted to announce the successful capital raise of €20 million, including a fully subscribed upsize option despite challenging market conditions,” said Dave Marver, CEO of ONWARD Medical. “We thank our new and existing shareholders for their support and confidence in the Company. With these funds, we will work with great intensity to develop and commercialize our breakthrough therapies for people with spinal cord injury.”

ONWARD Medical currently envisions using the net proceeds of the Offerings to:

• Fund research & development activities, including continued product development and regulatory approval of the investigational ARC-EX^® System to restore hand and arm function and the investigational ARC-IM^® System for improved blood pressure regulation after spinal cord injury (45%);
• Establish a commercial organization in preparation for expected US launch of the ARC-EX System second half of this year, including hiring a field sales organization, producing training and education materials, attending congresses and events, developing customer support capabilities, and conducting market access and reimbursement activities (15%);
• Build quality, operations, and other infrastructure capabilities (35%); and
• Fund working capital requirements (5%).

The New Shares are expected to be listed and admitted to trading on Euronext Brussels and Euronext Amsterdam on March 25, 2024, and payment and delivery of the New Shares are expected to take place on March 25, 2024. The New Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares in the Company.

Bryan, Garnier & Co acted as Sole Global Coordinator and, together with Bank Degroof Petercam SA/NV and KBC Securities NV, as Joint Bookrunners (the “Joint Bookrunners”) of the Private Placement.

Existing shareholders participated in the deal with an aggregate of 333,333 shares and 333,333 shares respectively allocated to INKEF Capital and EQT Life Sciences. Following the Offerings, INKEF Capital and EQT Life Sciences will respectively hold 11.5% and 11.2% of the Company’s share capital. An aggregate of 246,555 shares were also allocated to the following management, founders, and members of the Board of Directors of the Company: Dave Marver, CEO; Robert Odell, VP Operations; Lorenzo Fanti, VP Legal; Co-Founders Jocelyne Bloch and Grégoire Courtine, CSO; and Directors Ian Curtis, Kristina Dziekan, and Fred Colen.

The net proceeds from the Offerings are expected to extend the current cash runway of the Company into mid-2025.

The Company’s shareholder structure before the Offerings, with respect of the size of the shareholders which have a direct or indirect capital or voting interest of 3% or more and the free float, was as set out below:

Taking into account the effects of the Offerings with respect of the size of the shareholders which have a direct or indirect capital or voting interest of 3% or more and the free float will be as set out below upon closing of the Offerings:

In relation to the Private Placement, the Company has agreed with the Joint Bookrunners to a 90-day standstill period on future share issuances waivable by the Joint Bookrunners and subject to customary exceptions. Certain members of the Board of Directors and John Murphy have agreed with the Joint Bookrunners to a market customary 180-day lock-up period waivable by the Joint Bookrunners and subject to customary exceptions.
MB Bureau