Mass High Tech - April 22, 2009

Biotrove raising Series C funding
Mass High Tech

Woburn-based biotech BioTrove Inc. is raising money in a Series C round in the hopes the cash will tide it over until profitability.

The company is developing micro- and nanoscale technology platforms for research. The company had hoped to hold an initial public offering, but last December pulled its registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, citing concerns over a poor market.

However, in February, it formally opened a C series round, said president and CEO Albert Luderer, who expects to close the funding at the end of May. He declined to say how much had been raised.

Biotrove has been on the fast track, he said, and had a “dynamite” first quarter that was 12 percent over the budgeted plan. He expected the firm’s revenues to double this year. By December, the company could be in the black. Between now and then, Luderer will consider either an IPO or a reverse merger, should conditions be favorable for either exit. “Any company in our position should look at all opportunities,” said Luderer. “If the market opens up, I’ll be speaking to our bankers.”

Venture capital firms with a stake in BioTrove include Catalyst Health and Technology Partners, CB Health Ventures, Vox Equity Partners I & II, Echelon Ventures and Fletcher Spaght Inc.

BioTrove’s platforms include OpenArray, developed for use in genomic research in different life science fields, including disease analysis. The other platform is RapidFire, which enables the acceleration of drug discovery and pipeline decisions.