Press Release.
Aura Biosciences Announces Pricing of $260 Million Public Offering of Common Stock and Pre-funded Warrants
BOSTON, May 04, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Aura Biosciences, Inc. (“Aura”) (Nasdaq: AURA), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing precision therapies for solid tumors designed to preserve organ function, today announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering consisting of (i) 39,591,000 shares of its common stock and (ii) in lieu of common stock to certain investors, pre-funded warrants to purchase an aggregate of up to 3,800,000 shares of its common stock at an exercise price of $0.00001 per pre-funded warrant. In addition, Aura has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 6,508,650 shares of its common stock on the same terms and conditions. The offering price of each share of common stock is $6.00. The offering price of each pre-funded warrant is $5.99999.
All of the shares and pre-funded warrants in the offering are being sold by Aura. The gross proceeds from the offering to Aura are expected to be $260.3 million, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses and excluding any exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares. The offering is expected to close on or about May 5, 2026, subject to customary closing conditions.
Aura intends to use $205.1 million of the net proceeds from the offering, together with existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, to advance its clinical programs, including in early choroidal melanoma, and for registration-enabling activities for bel-sar, as well as for general corporate purposes. Aura plans to use the remaining net proceeds from the offering to repurchase up to 6,922,870 shares from its stockholder, Matrix Capital Management Master Fund, LP (“Matrix”), which represents all shares of Aura’s common stock held by Matrix, at $5.64 per share, which is the price per share at which the underwriters will purchase shares of Aura’s common stock from Aura in the offering.
Leerink Partners, TD Cowen and Evercore ISI are acting as joint bookrunning managers for the offering. LifeSci Capital is also acting as a bookrunning manager in the offering. Citizens Capital Markets is acting as a co-manager for the offering.
A shelf registration statement relating to the shares of common stock and pre-funded warrants offered in the public offering described above was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on March 27, 2024 and declared effective by the SEC on April 5, 2024 and a related registration statement that was filed with the SEC on May 4, 2026 pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (and became automatically effective upon filing). The offering is being made only by means of a written prospectus and prospectus supplement that form a part of the registration statement. A preliminary prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the offering were filed with the SEC on May 4, 2026, and are available on the SEC’s website located at www.sec.gov. A final prospectus supplement containing additional information relating to the offering and an accompanying prospectus will be filed with the SEC and will be available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. When available, copies of the final prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus relating to this offering may also be obtained by contacting: Leerink Partners LLC, Syndicate Department, 53 State Street, 40th Floor, Boston, MA 02109, or by telephone at (800) 808-7525 ext. 6105, or by email at syndicate@leerink.com; TD Securities (USA) LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717 or by email at TDManualrequest@broadridge.com; or Evercore Group L.L.C., Attention: Equity Capital Markets, 55 East 52nd Street, 35th Floor, New York, NY 10055, or by telephone at (888) 474-0200, or by email at ecm.prospectus@evercore.com.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities being offered, nor shall there be any sale of the securities being offered in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction.
About Aura Biosciences
Aura Biosciences, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing precision therapies for solid tumors that aim to preserve organ function. Aura’s lead candidate, bel-sar (AU-011), is currently in late-stage development for early choroidal melanoma and in early-stage development in other ocular oncology indications and bladder cancer. Aura is headquartered in Boston, MA. Aura’s mission is to grow as an innovative global oncology company that positively transforms the lives of patients.
Forward-Looking Statements
Various statements in this release concerning the use of proceeds, timing and completion of the public offering and stock repurchase on the anticipated terms or at all may constitute forward-looking statements for the purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, and other federal securities laws. All such forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of substantial risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside Aura’s control, that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include fluctuations in Aura’s stock price, changes in market conditions and satisfaction of customary closing conditions related to the public offering and stock repurchase, as well as those risks more fully discussed in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in the prospectus supplement and registration statement referenced above, Aura’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, filed on March 30, 2026 with the SEC and subsequent filings with the SEC including our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. There can be no assurance that Aura will be able to complete the public offering on the anticipated terms. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. All such statements speak only as of the date made, and Aura undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by law.
Investor and Media Contact:
Alex Dasalla
Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
IR@aurabiosciences.com
Source: Aura Biosciences, Inc.
