NEW YORK – Delfi Diagnostics said on Tuesday that it has raised $100 million in a Series A funding round.
The round was led by OrbiMed, with participation from existing investors including Menlo Ventures, Samsara Biocapital, Illumina Ventures, AV8 Ventures, and Windham Venture Partners, who participated in the firm's $5.5 million seed financing in 2019. New investors included Foresite Capital, Northpond Ventures, Cowen Healthcare Investments, Rock Springs Capital, and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price.
Recently formed to commercialize epigenomic cancer detection technology developed at Johns Hopkins University, Delfi plans to use the new funds to expand its team of cancer researchers and machine learning experts and to validate its novel next-generation liquid biopsy technology through multiple prospective clinical studies.
The company's methodology is based on the analysis of genome-wide fragmentation profiles of cell-free DNA, which can detect the presence of cancer and pinpoint a tumor's location in the body. In data published by the company's founders in 2019, the approach demonstrated sensitivity between 57 percent and more than 99 percent with high specificity across seven cancer types.
"The Delfi team has a unique and groundbreaking approach to early detection of cancer," said Rishi Gupta, Partner at OrbiMed, in a statement. "If liquid biopsy is to reach its full potential in early cancer detection and save as many lives as we believe it can, tests must be both high performing and broadly accessible in order for large populations to benefit. We believe Delfi's test may be ideally suited for broad adoption based on performance, simplicity, and cost."