Cambridge-based biotech company Rubius Therapeutics has raised $241 million by selling 10.5 million shares in its initial public offering on Wednesday.
Rubius had initially set the IPO for $200 million earlier this July, and its IPO share price of $23 was above its price range of $20 to $22. Trading as RUBY, its shares climbed 35 percent when the IPO, which is set to remain open through the 20th, went live Wednesday.
J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Jefferies and Leerink Partners serve as the company's underwriters, with Flagship Pioneering backing the firm.
The company, which has 83 employees and is looking to add more, said it will use the money generated through its IPO (combined with its existing funds), for the first phases of a clinical proof-of-concept trial; and "advance and expand" their RED Platform and research and development pipeline, among other initiatives.
The biggest chunk of the IPO, $90.5 million, will go to building the 135,000-sq.-ft., $150 million manufacturing plant it recently announced will have a home in Smithfield. The plant, which will debut in 2019, will bring an estimated 160 high-level biotech operations jobs, and add $6.34 million in net state revenue into Rhode Island within the next 12 years. It is also predicted to grow the Ocean State’s GDP by $28.1 million annually.
Regardless of its future plans, Rubius did stipulate that investment in the company came with risks.
"We have incurred net losses in every year since our inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur net losses in the future," they wrote in their S-1 filing.
