NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Lineagen today announced it completed a Series C financing round that raised $3.5 million.
The Salt Lake City-based molecular diagnostic firm also said that it received multiple term sheets for multimillion dollar senior secured debt facilities, including one that it intends to close as part of the Series C financing. It also announced it is converting $12.6 million in outstanding promissory notes into shares of Series B preferred stock.
The $3.5 million financing comprises $2.6 million in equity capital and $900,000 in convertible senior subordinated notes, Lineagen said. Existing investors Signal Peak Ventures and Sanderling Ventures led the round, while current investors PrairieGold Venture Partners and Mesa Verde Venture Partners and new investors Archipel Capital, University Venture Fund, Halteras Funds, and KickStart Seed Fund participated.
Lineagen provides fully integrated testing, counseling, and developmental screening services for the early diagnostic evaluation of patients with autism spectrum disorder and other childhood development disorders. Its flagship product called FirstStepDx Plus includes genetic counseling, a customized chromosomal microarray analysis, and a personalized report.
The company's CMA platform was developed in collaboration with Affymetrix.
Lineagen CEO Michael Paul said that in 2014 the company plans to close an additional tranche in its Series C financing of up to $7.0 million to $7.5 million, which would allow it to launch new commercial products, including NextStepDx Plus, a next-generation sequencing-based reflex test "that is expected to significantly add to the current diagnostic yield of FirstStepDx Plus."
An additional tranche would also allow Lineagen to expand its sales force to reach specialist physicians and seek out additional payor coverage, Paul said.