NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) — Berkeley Lights announced today that it has closed a $95 million financing round.
The round was led by Nikon and included existing investors Sequoia Capital, Walden-Riverwood Ventures, Black Diamond Ventures, and Paxion Capital. New investors included Cota Capital, KTB Network, Atinum Investment, Shangbay Capital, AJS BioTree Healthcare Fund, and Varian.
Emeryville, California-based BLI said it will use the financing to develop technologies for cell therapy development and manufacturing, including CAR T and endogenous T-cells; fund research and development; and expand its commercial activities.
In 2016, BLI launched its flagship Beacon platform — a light-based nanofluidics platform for single-cell selection, characterization, culture, and export for cell line development and immuno-oncology research. Earlier this year, Pfizer signed an agreement to use the Beacon technology in its monoclonal antibody discovery and gene-editing workflows.