Biotech company Senti Bio to go public via $600 mln SPAC deal

Senti Biosciences Holdings

20/12/2021 15:18

By Sohini Podder
    Dec 20 (Reuters) - Biotechnology company Senti Biosciences
Inc has agreed to go public through a merger with blank-check
firm Dynamics Special Purpose Corp  DYNS.O  in a deal that
values the combined company at $601 million. 
    Senti, short for "sentient", uses a gene circuit technology
platform that engineers DNA to create cell and gene therapies
which the company claims can sense and respond to ailments
inside the human body. 
    "The way I like to think about it - just like you can
program a computer with different programs or different maps, we
can do the same thing with medicines," co-founder and Chief
Executive Officer Timothy Lu told Reuters.
    "We're trying to create smart drugs essentially."    
    A faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Lu co-founded Senti Bio in 2016 with Philip Lee and
Jim Collins, he said. Collins was one of the founders of the
field of synthetic biology. 
    The company has two ongoing collaborations with Bayer AG
 BAYGn.DE  and Roche Holding AG  ROG.S , Lu said, on stem cell
therapies and gene therapy applications, respectively. Its
internal programs are focused on cancer treatments. 
    The deal is expected to result in gross proceeds of over
$296 million, which includes over $66 million of private
investment in public equity, or PIPE, from the venture
investment arm of Amgen Inc  AMGN.O , funds and accounts managed
by Morgan Stanley's Counterpoint Global, T. Rowe Price funds and
others. 
    The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022,
after which the merged entity will be listed on the Nasdaq. 
    J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley advised Dynamics on the deal,
while BofA Securities advised Senti Bio. 

 (Reporting by Sohini Podder in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna
Chandra Eluri)
 ((Sohini.Podder@thomsonreuters.com;))