SciQuest filed new details of its proposed initial public offering, signaling that the deal is moving closer to getting done.

The Cary technology company disclosed in a regulatory filing this afternoon that it plans to sell up to 6.9 million shares at $9.50 to $11.50 each, raising about $56 million after expenses at the midpoint price range.

That information was missing when SciQuest first filed IPO plans in March.

Now that SciQuest has filed more data with the Securities and Exchange Commission, company officials can get serious about selling shares to large Wall Street investors, a process known as a "road show."

Investors' appetite for IPOs has started to return in recent months, especially for profitable tech companies with increasing revenue.

SciQuest, a Cary company that helps universities, drug companies and other customers buy products and services online, filed plans this morning for an initial public offering of stock.

A successful IPO would mark an unusual milestone for the company that was founded in 1995. SciQuest first went public in 1999 during the height of the dot-com boom and its stock market value reached nearly $1 billion. But its shares tanked not long after its Wall Street debut when tech stocks slumped.

In 2004, with a new business model and a new management team led by CEO Stephen J. Wiehe, left, the company went private when it was bought by several investment firms, including Trinity Ventures of California and Intersouth Partners of Durham.

Now, with rapidly increasing revenue and profitability, Wiehe will try again to win favor among Wall Street investors.

Filing IPO plans puts SciQuest in rare company: Only one other Triangle company, Durham-based Aldagen, which is developing drugs from stem cells, has officially filed plans for a U.S. IPO. Raleigh-based Lulu.com, an online book publisher, this month filed plans for an IPO in Canada.