GenapSys Secures $90 Million Series C Funding to Accelerate Global Commercialization of Its Gene Sequencer

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned from foreign media that on November 20, 2019, local time, GenapSys, a gene sequencing company headquartered in Redwood City, California, announced the completion of its $90 million Series C financing round. To date, the company has raised a total of $166 million.

It is reported that this round of financing was exclusively led by the venture capital firm Foresite Capital. GenapSys plans to use the funds to accelerate the global commercialization of its first gene sequencer, the GenapSys Sequencer, expand its team, and enhance its product research and development capabilities.

GenapSys, founded in 2010 by Dr. Hesaam Esfanyarpour, pioneered the world’s first high-precision direct electronic DNA sequencing technology. Centered on its proprietary electro-microfluidic sequencing chip, the system detects base pair connections via electronic signals, enabling the sequencing device to be shrunk to the size of an iPad and priced at one-hundredth the cost of conventional optical-based genetic sequencing instruments currently on the market.

Dr. Hesaam Esfandyarpour, CEO and Founder of GenapSys, stated, “The coming decades will be the era of genomics, a technology that will revolutionize numerous industries, including medical diagnostics, drug discovery, personalized medicine, food testing, forensics, agriculture, and biology.”

Dr. Esfandyarpour continued, “With our new gene sequencer, we can rapidly enable and scale genomics-enabled healthcare capabilities for researchers, clinicians, healthcare providers, and patients worldwide.”

Jim Tananbaum, Founder and Managing Director of Foresite Capital, stated, “We believe that the GenapSys sequencer will enable research laboratories to perform high-quality gene sequencing at low cost, and we are very excited about the potential in this field.”

It is reported that Genapsys, Inc. has now opened orders for the GenapSys Sequencer in the United States at a price of $9,995, with global sales scheduled to begin in early 2020.

In addition to a new round of financing, GenapSys announced the appointment of several senior biotechnology advisors to its Board of Directors, including Frank Witney, former CEO of Affymetrix and Dionex; Rakesh Sachdev, former CEO of Sigma-Aldrich and Platform Specialty Products; and Hamid Moghadam, President and CEO of Prologis.

Foresite Capital is headquartered in San Francisco, USA. Its team comprises clinical scientists, engineers, analysts, and a network of diverse partners. With over $2 billion in assets under management, the firm provides capital and support to visionary healthcare companies across all stages of their lifecycle.

(Compiled by Hu Lushuang)