NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Bionano Genomics has filed for an initial public offering in which it plans to raise up to $34.5 million.
According to a preliminary prospectus filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday, the San Diego-based company plans to offer a yet to be determined number of shares of its common stock for a maximum aggregate offering price of $34.5 million.
The company said it believes the proceeds from the offering, together with revenues from sales and existing cash, will be sufficient to meet its operating cash requirements for at least 18 months.
Bionano also applied to list its common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol BNGO.
Roth Capital Partners is the sole book-running manager and Maxim Group is the lead manager for the offering.
Bionano sells a DNA mapping system for structural variation detection called Saphyr that it launched commercially in 2017. The underlying optical mapping technology involves nanochannels that hold single DNA molecules. The company said it has an installed base of more than 90 systems, including both the Saphyr and its predecessor Irys.
As of April, the firm held 10 US patents and 12 pending US patent applications, as well as 79 pending patent applications and granted patents elsewhere in the world.
In its prospectus, Bionano estimated that the discovery research and cytogenetics markets offer it the opportunity to sell up to approximately 8,500 Saphyr systems for a total of $2.1 billion. In addition, each Saphyr system has the potential to create recurring revenues ranging from about $75,000 to $150,000 per year, for a total of $0.6 billion to $1.3 billion per year. Thus, the firm estimates the size of its total currently addressable genome analysis market to be between $2.7 billion and $3.4 billion.
Bionano also revealed that it had $1.7 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2018 and a net loss of $3.8 million, or $1.16 per share. Its R&D expenses for the quarter were $2.4 million and its SG&A expenses were $2.9 million. As of March 31, the company had $7.6 million in cash and cash equivalents.
In 2017, the company had $9.5 million revenues and a net loss of 23.4 million, or $7.66 per share. Its R&D expenses were $12 million in 2017, and its SG&A expenses totaled $14.1 million.
As of December 2017, Bionano had raised approximately $129.3 million through sales of its preferred stock. In addition, in 2016, it entered into a secured term loan facility with Western Alliance Bank, under which it has borrowed $7 million. The loan facility requires it to raise $5 million from the sale of equity securities by Aug. 3 of this year.
Bionano said that as of March 31, it had 65 employees, including 28 in sales, sales support, and marketing, 28 in research and development, four in manufacturing and operations, and five in general and administrative positions. Of its employees, 57 are located in the US and eight elsewhere.
The company's headquarters are in San Diego, where it leases 33,000 square feet of office, laboratory, and manufacturing space.
The company also has a collaboration agreement with Berry Genomics in China, signed in 2016, under which Berry will develop, market, and commercialize a Berry-branded in vitro diagnostic system in China. As part of the agreement, Bionano granted Berry an exclusive license to seek China Food and Drug Administration registration and to manufacture and sell IVD kits and instruments.
Bionano Genomics, a Princeton University spinout, was founded as BioNanomatrix in 2003 and changed its name in 2011.