Sara Semnani

Cooley advised Kyverna Therapeutics on its $85 million Series B financing. Partners Laura Berezin and Sara Semnani led the Cooley team advising Kyverna, a developer of new cell-based therapeutics designed to offer treatments and cures for serious autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Cooley advised The Honest Company, a consumer goods company founded by actress Jessica Alba, on its $475 million initial public offering of 29,678,050 shares of common stock, which includes the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares. Partners Tom Hopkins, Nicole Brookshire, Siana Lowrey and Sara Semnani led the Cooley team advising Honest.

Cooley advised Ovid on its $75 million initial public offering of 5,000,000 shares of common stock. Ovid, which now trades on The NASDAQ Global Select Market as “OVID,” is a biopharmaceutical company focused exclusively on developing impactful medicines for patients and families living with rare neurological disorders.

Cooley advised Vir Biotechnology on its $142.9 million initial public offering of 7,142,858 shares of common stock. Vir Biotechnology, whose securities now trade on Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol "VIR", is a clinical-stage immunology company focused on combining immunologic insights with cutting-edge technologies to treat and prevent serious infectious diseases. Partners Laura Berezin, Charlie Kim and Kristin VanderPas led the Cooley team.

Cooley advised Kezar Life Sciences Inc. on its $86.3 million initial public offering of 5,750,000 shares of common stock, which includes the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares. Cooley partners Laura Berezin and Rob Phillips led the team advising Kezar.

Jefferies and Cowen and Company acted as joint book-running managers for the offering. Wells Fargo and William Blair also acted as book-runners. 

Kezar is a clinical-stage biotechnology company discovering and developing novel small molecule therapeutics to treat unmet needs in autoimmunity and cancer. It now trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “KZR.”