RainDance waltzes toward $60M IPO

RainDance's Billerica, MA, headquarters--Courtesy of RainDance Technologies

RainDance Technologies is moving one step closer to completing its long-awaited IPO, filing plans for a $60 million offering to cash in on a growing market for its next-generation sequencing tools.

The Billerica, MA-based company is staying mum on pricing details, but plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol "RAIN," according to its SEC filing. Merrill Lynch, Cowen and Company, and Evercore ISI Group are listed among the offering's underwriters. RainDance initially filed for an IPO in May 2014.

The company did not spell out how it will use funds from its IPO, but said it will use proceeds to fuel expansion for its innovative sequencing products and digital droplet technology platform. RainDance boasts three systems, including ThunderStorm, ThunderBolts and RainDrop. ThunderStorm and ThunderBolts are designed for researchers performing next-generation sequencing to detect cancer and inherited and infectious diseases, and RainDrop performs liquid biopsies to detect circulating nucleic acids. The company's picodroplet technology allows for improved sensitivity and speed of processing at lower costs. RainDance sees the market for its products as exceeding $3 billion by 2018, the company said in its filing.

An offering would come at a critical moment for RainDance, as it looks to accelerate development for its sequencing technology. The company's revenue grew from $17.2 million in 2013 to $30.6 million in 2014, and its net loss decreased 79% to $8.8 million from $14.3 million. At the end of last year, RainDance had cash and cash equivalents of $33.6 million--enough money in its pot to make some headway in 2015.

And the company has already attracted some attention from investors, raking in $123.6 million to date from big names such as Mohr Davidow Ventures, Capital Royalty Partners, Myriad Genetics ($MYGN) and GE Ventures. In April 2013, Myriad joined the company's $20 million Series E financing round to fuel commercial and manufacturing expansion for its sequencing tools. Salt Lake City, UT-based Myriad counted for 51% of RainDance's revenues in 2014, the company said in its filing.

RainDance is not the only company hopping on the IPO bandwagon. Genetic diagnostics outfits such as Invitae ($NVTA), AltheaDx, HTG Molecular Diagnostics and AutoGenomics are also making progress on plans for 2015 offerings. In February, Bay Area-novitiate Invitae raised $102 million in an IPO priced above its range, a deal valuing the company at $516 million. But IPO plans from HTG Molecular, AltheaDx and AutoGenomics stalled after previously expected debuts.

- here's RainDance's filing