NEW YORK – Life sciences R&D cloud platform provider Benchling said on Wednesday that it has raised $200 million in a Series E funding round.
The round was led by Sequoia Capital Global Equities, and was joined by Altimeter Capital, Byers Capital, and Elad Gil, the company said. Existing investors Thrive Capital, Benchmark, Menlo Ventures, Alkeon Capital, ICONIQ, Lux Capital, Spark Capital, and Lead Edge Capital also participated.
Benchling said it plans to use the funds to "aggressively" invest in product development and global expansion to support its enterprise customers. The firm noted that since its launch in 2012, more than 300,000 scientists and 1,000 R&D organizations have adopted its eponymous cloud platform to manage experimental datasets and optimize R&D processes. Benchling's customers — which include Gilead Sciences, Sanofi, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Corteva Agrisciences, and Sana Biotechnology, among others — use the company's suite of cloud applications to design DNA, automate data capture, manage research workflows, enable rapid decision-making, and collaborate on experiments.
"This past year has proven the impact biotechnology can have on the world," Benchling Cofounder and CEO Sajith Wickramasekara said in a statement. "This funding will enable us to provide more products, solutions, and services that scientists around the world ultimately need to solve some of humanity's greatest challenges."