Other Income, Net
Other income, net increased by $2.3 million to $2.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023 from $55 thousand for the three months ended March 31, 2022. The increase was primarily attributable to an increase in interest and investment income due to higher yields on our interest-earning assets.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
From our inception through March 31, 2023, we raised an aggregate of $579.3 million through equity financings including private placements of preferred stock before we became a public company, our private placement of preferred stock in the February 2021 Financing and registered offerings of our common stock, including our at-the-market offering programs. As of March 31, 2023, we had $213.3 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. Based on our current operating plan, we expect that our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments as of March 31, 2023 are sufficient to fund our operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements through the first half of 2025. Advancing the development of STAR-0215 and other product candidates will require a significant amount of capital. Our existing cash and cash equivalents will not be sufficient to fund any of our product candidates through regulatory approval. Furthermore, our operating plan may change as a result of many factors currently unknown to us, and we may need to seek additional financing to fund our long-term operations sooner than planned.
We will need to obtain substantial additional funding to complete the development and commercialization of STAR-0215 or any future product candidates, support our continuing operations, future clinical trials and the expansion of our pipeline. In addition, STAR-0215 or any future product candidates, if approved, may not achieve commercial success. Our commercial revenues, if any, will be derived from sales of product candidates that we do not expect to be commercially available for years, if at all. Accordingly, we will need to continue to rely on additional financing to achieve our business objectives. Adequate additional financing may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. The terms of any financing may adversely affect the holdings or the rights of our stockholders. General economic conditions, both inside and outside the United States, including heightened inflation, capital market instability and volatility, interest rate and currency rate fluctuations and economic slowdown or recession as well as the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical events, including civil or political unrest (such as the Ukraine-Russian war), may have a significant impact on the availability of funding sources and the terms on which any funding may be available. In addition, market instability and volatility, high levels of inflation and interest rate fluctuations may increase our cost of financing or restrict our access to potential sources of future liquidity. If we fail to raise capital as, and when, needed, we may be unable to continue our operations at planned levels and be forced to modify our business strategies and reduce or terminate our operations. Although we will continue to pursue these plans, there is no assurance that we will be successful in obtaining sufficient funding on terms acceptable to us to fund continuing operations when needed or at all.
December 2022 Financing
On December 19, 2022, we closed an underwritten public offering of 10,445,050 shares of our common stock for gross proceeds of approximately $115 million, and net proceeds of $107.6 million.
At-the-Market Offerings
On June 30, 2021, we entered into an Open Market Sale AgreementSM with Jefferies LLC, or Jefferies, pursuant to which we can issue and sell shares of common stock of up to $25.0 million under an at-the-market offering program, or the Jefferies ATM Program. We pay Jefferies sales agent commissions of 3% of the gross proceeds from any common stock sold through the Jefferies ATM Program. On September 15, 2022, the Jefferies ATM Program was modified to increase the amount of our common stock that may be offered thereunder to an aggregate offering price of up to $50.0 million, with $30.5 million of such amount then being available for future issuance. In November 2022, the Jefferies ATM Program was once again modified to increase the amount of our common stock that may be offered thereunder to an aggregate offering price of up to $88.1 million, with $50.0 million of such amount then being available for future issuance. As of March 31, 2023, $50.0 million of common stock remains available for sale under the Jefferies ATM Program. There was no activity from the Jefferies ATM Program during the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.