New Name, New Investment, and New CEO for Fluidigm

Fluidigm, a finalist in the 2021 Medical Design Excellence Awards, is about to undergo some significant changes. The South San Francisco, CA-based company will not only see its name changed to Standard BioTools Inc.; it will see a change in leadership; and a $250 million investment that is expected to close in late 1Q22.

Dr. Michael Egholm is set to serve as president and CEO and will succeed Chris Linthwaite, who continues as Fluidigm’s CEO until the closing of the investment or May 15th.

The investors include Casdin Capital and Viking Global Investors. Terms of the investment call for Casdin and Viking to purchase $250 million aggregate principal amount of zero-coupon convertible preferred shares with a conversion price of $3.40 per share. The conversion price represents a conversion premium of about 19.7% over the closing price of Fluidigm’s common stock of $2.84 per share Jan. 21.

The company said the $250 million investment will fuel a realization of identified growth and cost opportunities within its two major platforms, mass cytometry and microfluidics, and allow for new growth drivers as management pursues and consolidates complementary technologies across the life science ecosystem.

In a release, Dr. Carlos V. Paya, chairman of Fluidigm said “with the investment, the company will now be able to fully fund the execution of many key strategic initiatives that began under Chris’ tenure, including expanding mass cytometry and CyTOF XT capabilities, focusing on protein biomarkers, and proteomics within microfluidics. We will continue to benefitfrom  Chris’ expertise as he transitions to an advisory role and wish him the best in his future endeavors.”

Fluidigm said the change to Standard BioTools because the new name would better reflect its ambitions to become an essential solutions partner to the life science industry focused on the highest growth areas of biological discovery and development.

The company’s Mass Cytometry technology was used in a 2,000 patient study to get a better understanding of how COVID-19 impacts patients. Fluidigim also won emergency use authorization for the Advanta Dx SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Assay, an extraction-free saliva-based test to detect nucleic acid from the SARS‑CoV‑2 virus.