NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – WaferGen Biosystems has inked a deal to raise $1.5 million through a private placement of shares in its Malaysian subsidiary, WaferGen Biosystems Sdn. Bhd.
Investors in the round included Prima Mahawangsa, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of CAV Private Equity Management, and Expedient Equity Ventures.
Under terms of the financing, WaferGen is selling 666,666 shares of redeemable convertible preferred Series B stock for total proceeds of $1.5 million. Each share of the convertible preferred stock is exchangeable into one share of WaferGen common stock at an exchange price of $2.25 per share.
Fremont, Calif.-based WaferGen intends to use the proceeds from the placement to fund the manufacture and sale of its SmartChip Real-Time PCR System.
The firm said two weeks ago while announcing its fourth-quarter and fiscal 2008 financial results that as of the end of the year it had $2.6 million in cash holdings. In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, WaferGen said that it has sufficient funds to support operations through May 2009. "We will need to raise additional funds through public or private debt or equity financings to meet various business objectives," it said.