nanostringSeattle’s NanoString Technologies today set the terms for its upcoming initial public offering, with plans to sell shares in the range of $13 to $15 per share. The 138-person company, a maker of genomic analysis tools which spun out of genomics pioneer Leroy Hood’s Institute for Systems Biology in 2003, initially filed for an IPO last month. It plans to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker NSTG.

If successful, it would mark the second technology company from Washington state to go public this year, following in the path of Tableau Software. Tableau, which is trading at about $55 per share, now has a market value of more than $3 billion.

NanoString plans to raise up to $76 million in the deal if it prices shares at $14. The company is losing money, showing a net loss of $17.7 million last year, and a first quarter loss of $7.2 million. In fact, the company has never made money, and it is reporting a total accumulated deficit of $102.8 million since it was founded.

NanoString’s venture backers include Clarus Funds, which owns 36 percent, DFJ Funds, which owns 20 percent, and OVP Venture Partners, which owns 23 percent. It is led by former Genzyme Corp. exec Brad Gray, who owns 4.77 percent of the company.

NanoString plans to use proceeds from the stock sale to commercialize Prosigna — a genomic tool that can help determine the risk of recurrence of breast cancer. It also plans to build a sales force to market Prosigna, and expand commercial operations for its nCounter Analysis Systems.

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