NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Genomic engineering firm EnEvolv today announced it completed its Series A financing, raising $1.7 million.
The funds will go toward expanding the Boston-based company's R&D capabilities, as well as business development activities. Venture capital firm Cultivian Sandbox Venture Partners led the round.
EnEvolv engineers and licenses microorganisms to produce chemicals, enzymes, and small molecules for the pharmaceutical, personal care, specialty chemicals, food, and energy industries. Its proprietary genome engineering platform is built on multiplex automated genome engineering technology developed by George Church at Harvard Medical School and Farren Isaacs of Yale University.
EnEvolv said on its website that its platform "enables large-scale genome modifications at multiple locations simultaneously — a process akin to parallel reprogramming of the genome."
The firm also announced the appointment of two new members to its board, Ron Meeusen and Charles Cooney. Meeusen is a managing director at Cultivian Sandbox and managing partner of Cultivian Ventures. Cooney is a professor of chemical and biochemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also is the faculty director of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation.