Inscripta Secures $125 Million Series D Funding to Accelerate Commercialization of Onyx Digital Genome Engineering Platform

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned via Business Wire that on December 10, 2019, biotechnology company Inscripta announced the completion of a $125 million Series D financing round. The round was led by Paladin Capital Group, with participation from existing investors and new investors JS Capital Management and Oak HC/FT.

To date, Inscripta has raised a total of $259.5 million. Reportedly, the new funding will be used to accelerate the expanded application and commercialization of the company’s revolutionary Onyx Digital Genome Engineering Platform.

Inscripta, founded in 2015 and headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, with offices in Pleasanton and San Diego, California, is developing the world’s first scalable desktop platform for digital genome engineering. Inscripta is dedicated to assisting gene-editing researchers who are constrained by current technologies and licensing restrictions.

The Onyx platform is the world’s first fully automated benchtop instrument for genome-scale engineering. Comprising instrumentation, consumables, software, and assays, it enables parallel, traceable editing of single cells at an unprecedented scale. By leveraging this unique platform and engaging in collaborative business practices with partners, the company is ushering biological discovery into a new era, exemplified by making its MAD7 CRISPR nuclease freely available for research and development.

Paul Conley, Managing Director at Paladin Capital Group, stated, “We were deeply impressed by the Inscripta team’s passion, focus, and efficient execution, which were instrumental in the successful launch of the Onyx Digital Genome Engineering Platform. We are delighted to lead this financing round and believe that Inscripta’s technology will help position biology as a key driver of economic growth.”

Dr. Kevin Ness, CEO of Inscripta, stated, “The recent launch of our Onyx platform and the substantial funding we have secured strongly validate the novelty of our genome engineering approach and its potential to unlock the full promise of the emerging bioeconomy. We are delighted to see that our digital genome engineering tools have already made a significant impact by overcoming the limitations of existing CRISPR-based gene editing, enabling researchers to design experiments that were previously impossible. This new funding provides the support needed to accelerate the development of our platform.”

Paladin Capital Group, established in 2001 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is a private equity and venture capital firm with offices in New York, Silicon Valley, London, and Luxembourg. The firm’s team combines financial expertise with national security and technological capabilities to create value across a broad range of market sectors and investment stages.

Oak HC/FT, founded in 2014 and headquartered in Connecticut, USA, is a firm focused on venture capital and growth equity investments in the healthcare and financial services sectors.

(Compiled by Jiang Ying)