10x Genomics, which makes tools to help researchers working gene splicing, will offer 10 million shares of common stock plus an addition 1.5 million shared limited to underwriters.
The company, founded in 2012, reached unicorn status in January at $1.28 billion in valuation after its last round of fundraising.
The firm, founded by Serge Saxanov and Ben Hindson, was expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market today (TXG) and the offering is expected to close on Sept. 16.
10x Genomics equipment is so efficient and cutting edge that it is used by 14 of the top 15 pharmaceutical companies and more than 90 of the top 100 research universities. The company moved into its new headquarters, next to Stoneridge mall, earlier this year. It’s hiring about 200 people this year, growing the employee count by 50 percent.
The company’s roots trace to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where Hindson has worked with colleagues who joined him at QuantaLife. Saxanov, came to QuantaLife from 24 and Me. It licensed a technology from Lawrence Livermore in 2008. Bill Colston, who spent 20 years at Lawrence Livermore, served as the CEO of the firm. Ted Tarasow, another former lab manager, also joined the firm.
It was acquired by East Bay life science pioneering firm, Bio-Rad Laboratories for $162 million in 2011. QuantaLife developed a proprietary nucleic acid testing method. The Pleasanton company is the core of BioRad's Digital Biology program, which is headquartered here in two buildings that were purchased last November, totaling 101,000 square feet.
The QuantaLife sale spawned three other companies. Saxonov and Hindson founded 10X Genomics, while CEO Colston founded HealthTell in Pleasanton where Tarasow is vice president of product development and Klint Rose co-founded Purigen Biosystems in Pleasanton and serves its chief science officer. Colston serves on the board.
10x Genomics has become a poster child for why the Tri-Valley is such an ideal area to build cutting edge life sciences companies.
Steve Spedowfski, the deputy city manager and public information officer for San Ramon, added some helpful perspective to my Bishop Ranch post earlier this week. (He's a former Livermore City Councilman.) He pointed out that the city is largely built out with all future residential sites located in existing retail centers—that fits with the shifting retail landscape driven by online shopping.
He also noted that the Sunset Development plan for 4,500 multi-family units includes giving free bus passes to all residents in the area. The park currently funds County Connection passes for all employees and pays for routes connecting the Bishop Ranch transit center with the Dublin/Pleasanton and Walnut Creek BART stations as well as the ACE station in Pleasanton.
The residential project covers about 135 acres in four large blocks, representing about 23 percent of the overall 585-acre footprint. Most of it is either vacant or surface parking lots. It includes a previously approved 169-room hotel plus another 170,000 square feet of retail. For the residential, it’s clustered near the one-million-square-foot 2600 Camino Ramon building, which was built as PacBell’s headquarters.
The 4,500 multiples would add significantly to the 7,695 multi-family units. San Ramon, with a population of 83,957, has 21,116 single-family units.
