Wisconsin-Madison spin-out Cellular Dynamics raises $46m in an IPO.

Biotech Cellular Dynamics, a spin-out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has raised $46m in an initial public offering.

Founded in 2004, the US-based firm offered 3.8 million shares at $12, the low end of a $12 to $14 range, trading under the symbol ICEL on Nasdaq.

Despite providing cell lines to 18 of the 20 largest pharma companies, including AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and GlaxoSmithKline, early trading has not been easy on Cellular, with its share price dropping to $9.5 at time of writing since its Wednesday floatation.

This could be due to Cellular raking up a deficit of $87.8m as of the end of Q1 2013, and recording net losses in excess of $20m in each of the past two years.

The company has previous raised $91.6m in venture backing, with a further $20m in debt financing. Lead investor in two of its three venture rounds (the third did not disclose backers) was venture firm Tactics II Stem Cell Ventures.