Sept. 15 Quick Takes: Strong appetite for Tyra, DICE IPOs

Strong investor demand drove shares of Tyra Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:TYRA) up 63% to $26 in their first day of trading Wednesday after the company priced 10.8 million shares at $16 in a twice-upsized IPO. The biotech’s postmoney valuation was $654.6 million; its market cap was close to $1.1 billion by day’s end. Tyra had initially proposed to sell 6.7 million shares, then raised its target to 9 million before further upsizing the offering. The company is developing a pipeline of FGFR inhibitors, with an initial focus on bladder cancer. Tyra’s biggest shareholders include Alta Partners, RA Capital, Boxer Capital, Canaan and Nextech. BofA Securities, Jefferies and Cowen underwrote the deal.

DICE Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:DICE), a preclinical developer of small molecule therapies based on a DNA-encoded library platform to treat immunological disorders, gained 117% to $36.89 after raising $204 million through the sale of 12 million shares at $17 in an upsized IPO. The price gave DICE a postmoney valuation of $617.4 million; its market cap cleared $1.3 million at Wednesday’s close. The company had proposed to sell 10 million shares at $15-$17. Top shareholders include RA Capital, Northpond Ventures and Sands Capital. Underwriters are BofA Securities, SVB Leerink and Evercore ISI...