Avacta Therapeutics (AIM: AVCT) has conditionally raised £12.5 million gross through a placing and director subscription priced at 68p per share.
The company placed 17,411,766 new shares and issued a further 970,587 subscription shares, taking the total number of new shares to approximately 18.38 million.
The new shares represent around 3.9% of Avacta’s existing issued share capital.
The 68p issue price represents a 5.6% discount to the 72p closing mid-market price on 29 September 2026, the final trading day before Avacta entered its Capital Access Window.
The fundraising remains conditional on admission of the new shares and the placing agreement not being terminated before admission.
Management said the proceeds extend Avacta’s cash runway into Q2 2027 and provide funding through several expected clinical and development milestones.
The most important is the anticipated first clinical efficacy data from AVA6103 in H1 2027.
AVA6103 has already demonstrated clinical proof of mechanism in the Phase 1 FOCUS-01 trial, with Avacta reporting that its controlled-release mechanism is working in patients as intended.
However, the forthcoming H1 2027 data remain the first major test of clinical efficacy, rather than mechanism or early safety alone.
Avacta is also progressing AVA6000 through Phase 1b development and expects to select a clinical candidate for its dual-payload AVA6207 programme during Q4 2026, ahead of IND-enabling studies.
Chief executive Christina Coughlin said the financing strengthened Avacta’s position in ongoing partnering discussions and provided funding through multiple potential value inflection points.
Four directors participated in the subscription, investing approximately £660,000 in aggregate.
Non-executive chairman Richard Hughes contributed £500,000, while Patrick Vink invested £75,000, David Bryant £50,000 and Mats Blom £35,000.
Zeus Capital also subscribed for 180,001 shares at 68p, representing an investment of approximately £122,401.
Because Richard Hughes is a director and majority shareholder of Zeus Capital, that participation constitutes a related-party transaction under AIM Rule 13.
The independent directors, after consulting nominated adviser Strand Hanson, concluded that the Zeus participation was fair and reasonable for shareholders.
Following completion of the fundraising, Avacta has now closed its Capital Access Window, with existing shares expected to resume trading on AIM at 7.30am on 6 October 2026.
For investors, the immediate funding risk has been reduced, with Avacta securing the targeted £12.5 million at relatively modest dilution.
The next valuation drivers are now clinical rather than financing-led: AVA6207 candidate selection during Q4 2026, continued AVA6000 development and first AVA6103 efficacy data in H1 2027.
