High-flying Cryoport Inc. (Nasdaq: CYRX) has plans to expand its distribution—of which it is the largest transporter of biologically sensitive products—and hire new employees to do it.
To help make that happen, on June 19 it sold 3.75 million shares at $17 each.
The Irvine-based company expects to use the $59.8 million in net proceeds for working capital, inventory development, global infrastructure buildout and facilities expansion, sales and marketing and, potentially, acquisitions with strategic impact.
After the announcement, shares dropped from $18.70 to $17.01 a week later before rebounding to $17.95 at press time.
Its shares have more than quadrupled in the past two years.
The offering comes after Cryoport paid $20.5 million in cash in May to acquire Houston-based Cryogene Inc., which specializes in the secure storage and transportation of biological specimens, materials, and samples.
Besides the new facility in Houston, Cryoport currently has two facilities in Europe, one in Japan and two manufacturing plants in New Jersey, where the immunotherapies are created.
Cryoport currently has 50 employees at its Irvine office, up from 14 about 18 months ago. Its companywide headcount has doubled to 100 from 18 months ago.
Each one of Cryoport’s containers wears a monitor that transmits information to a hub where technicians can monitor the temperature from hundreds of miles away. The telemetry is capable of detecting alterations in posture of the package, which decreases cooling time—and whether it’s being manhandled by its shippers.
“We have the ability to intervene—if necessary,” Vice President of Corporate Development Thomas Heinzen told the Business Journal. The data also conveys temperature and whether it can be sustained throughout transport.
“When you’re dealing with people, there is no room for error,” Heinzen said. The secret to being so successful is a zero-error standard of quality. According to Heinzen, the company also stores human embryos and human eggs, and “those are arguably priceless.”
