Quanterix, a digital immunoassay developer spun out of Tufts University, has raised $64.1m in its initial public offering.
Quanterix, a US-based biomarker analysis technology developer spun out of Tufts University, will raise $64.1m when it floats on the Nasdaq Global Market today.
The company priced the initial public offering at $15, in the middle of its $14 to $16 range, but increased the number of shares from 3.34 million to almost 4.28 million. The IPO values Quanterix at approximately $318m.
Founded in 2007, Quanterix is working on a digital immunoassay product called Simoa that will help researchers more closely study the relationship between health and disease by detecting protein biomarkers, even in concentrations too low for analogue immunoassay systems.
The spinout was co-founded by David Walt, the Robinson professor of chemistry at Tufts University.
The IPO proceeds will be used to grow Quanterix’s commercial operations, enhance its core technology and instruments, explore uses of its tech outside life sciences and fund the launch of its new instrument next year. A potential move to larger headquarters has also been mooted.
Quanterix has secured a total of $106m, with medical diagnostics equipment producer BioMerieux providing $15m of an $18.5m series C round in 2012 that included Arch Venture Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, Flagship Ventures and In-Q-Tel. BioMerieux invested a further $7m three years later.
The company closed $54.5m from Arch Venture Partners and its Arch Overage Fund, Cormorant Asset Management, Trinitas Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Hercules Capital, Tufts University, private investor David Walt and accounts advised by investment firm T. Rowe Price Associates in an August 2017 series D round.
Arch Venture Partners is Quanterix’s largest shareholder, with a 21.8% stake pre-IPO, while other notable investors include Bain Capital (12.7%), BioMerieux (12.2%), Flagship Ventures (12.1%), Trinitas Innovation (5.1%) and Cormorant Global Healthcare Fund (5%).
Medical device manufacturer Stratec Biomedical took a 7% stake in Quanterix as part of a 2011 joint development agreement. The number of shares it acquired would have worked out to a stake sized at about 3.7% prior to the offering.
JP Morgan Securities, Leerink Partners and Cowen and Company are the joint book-running managers for the IPO, while BTIG and Evercore Group are co-managers. They have a 30-day option to buy a further 641,000 shares, boosting the size of the offering to $73.8m.
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.
