Benchling Secures $34.5M Series C Funding to Advance Cloud-Based R&D Platform for Life Sciences

On July 25, 2019, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned from foreign media reports that Benchling, a life sciences software development company, announced the completion of its $34.5 million Series C financing round. The round was led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from Lead Edge Capital, Y Combinator Continuity, Benchmark, and Thrive Capital.

Benchling plans to use the funds from this financing round to enhance its life science R&D cloud platform and expand its company scale and product market.

It is reported that Benchling had previously undergone five rounds of financing, raising a total of $61 million. Specifically, the company completed a $14.5 million Series B financing round in June 2018 and a $7 million Series A financing round in October 2016.

Benchling, founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Francisco, USA, is a leading software development company. The company is dedicated to building a cloud platform for research and development (R&D) in life sciences, providing scientists with abundant resources to enhance the efficiency of biotechnology development. Benchling’s cloud platform is specifically designed for technology development, enabling the standardization and integration of relevant R&D data. Platform features include cloud-based notebook storage, data sharing, and workflow management.

The company’s clientele includes global pharmaceutical companies, emerging biotechnology firms, and leading research institutions—such as prominent life sciences enterprises like Zoetis, Beam Therapeutics, Zymergen, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals—as well as academic laboratories at universities including Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, and the University of California, Berkeley. Furthermore, more than 170,000 scientists worldwide working in cutting-edge fields such as CRISPR gene editing, chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) immunotherapy, and genetic engineering leverage Benchling’s cloud platform for DNA design and biological experimentation.

Traditional R&D software suffers from fragmented data, which hinders the pace of scientific and technological research and development. In contrast, Benchling’s cloud platform captures the complete experimental workflow, automatically links relevant experimental data, and builds corresponding models for each stage of R&D to establish a digitalized workflow. Furthermore, the cloud platform features customizable analytics capabilities that help scientists and R&D institutions measure research and development performance. Over the past year, as Benchling deepened its relationships with customers through its cloud platform, its revenue grew by 130%.

Matt Murphy, a partner at Menlo Ventures, stated, “The R&D process in life sciences is highly complex. Prior to Benchling, there were no end-to-end, purpose-built software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications to facilitate collaboration among R&D teams. Biotechnology and biologics are shaping the future of life sciences; the faster technological innovation advances, the greater the benefit to society. Benchling’s cloud platform has replaced traditional workflows, serving as the system of record for diverse biotechnology and drug development projects.”

Sajith Wickramasekara, Co-founder and CEO of Benchling, stated, “We aim to enable scientists of the future to focus on innovative technologies through our cloud platform. Empowered by Benchling, a new generation of scientists is already at the forefront of the life sciences industry. We will leverage this financing to strengthen collaborations with large enterprise clients and harness the power of our cloud platform to reduce the complexity of biotechnology R&D.”

Menlo Ventures, founded in 1976 and headquartered in California, USA, is a venture capital and private equity firm. The company primarily focuses on cybersecurity, intelligent cloud services, and life sciences, investing in enterprises at various stages of development. To date, Menlo Ventures has invested in more than 70 publicly listed companies and manages over $5 billion in assets.

Lead Edge, founded in 2009 and headquartered in New York, USA, is a venture capital and private equity firm. The company primarily invests in the healthcare, life sciences, e-commerce, and information technology sectors, with approximately $1.5 billion in assets under management.

Y Combinator, founded in 2005 and headquartered in California, USA, is a venture capital firm. The company is dedicated to providing funding and strategic guidance to startups in the biotechnology, healthcare, and intelligent services sectors.

Benchmark, founded in 1995 and headquartered in San Francisco, USA, is a venture capital firm. The company focuses on the mobile communications, biotechnology, social media, and enterprise software industries, and has invested in information technology and software design companies such as Chainalysis, Instawork, and Nextdoor.

Thrive Capital, founded in 2009 and headquartered in New York, USA, is a venture capital firm. The company primarily focuses on the internet and software development industries, managing over $500 million in assets.

(Compiled by Xu Xiaoxue)