Akoya Biosciences, a US-based tissue analysis technology developer backed by laboratory equipment maker Agilent Technologies, has filed to raise $115m in an initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
Founded in 2015, Akoya has built a tissue analysis technology platform called Codex which allows users to analyse tissue cells and create images of more than 40 protein markers within them at a single-cell resolution.
The technology was developed in a laboratory at Stanford University overseen by Akoya co-founder Garry Nolan, who is also head of its scientific advisory board.
The spinout generated $42.4m of revenue for 2020, marginally higher than the $42.2m reported for the year before, while making a $16.7m net loss.
Akoya raised $50m in a December 2019 round led by investment bank Piper Jaffray’s merchant banking unit that also featured Agilent Technologies, venture capital firm Telegraph Hill Partners and investment adviser Innovatus Capital.
Telegraph Hill Partners led Akoya’s $25.5m series C round in 2018, following $9m from unnamed backers the year before, according to a regulatory filing.
The company’s majority shareholder, Telegraph Hill Partners, holds a 53.8% stake. Its other notable shareholders are Piper Sandler’s Merchant Banking Fund II (9.7%) and the board of trustees at Stanford University (7.7%).
JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Piper Sandler and Canaccord Genuity are joint book-running managers for the offering.