NEW YORK(GenomeWeb) – Genomic mapping firm BioNano Genomics today announced it completed a Series C financing round that raised $53 million.
The funds will be used to increase the installed base of the company's Irys platform and to develop next-generation platforms and technologies. Legend Capital and Novartis Venture Fund co-led the round. New investors in the round included Federated Kaufmann Fund and Monashee Investment Management. Existing investors Domain Associates, Battelle Ventures, and Gund Investment also participated in the round.
BioNano also said that Legend Capital Executive Director Darren Cai and Novartis Venture Fund Managing Director Campbell Murray have joined BioNano's board.
A long-read genome mapping solution, the Irys system provides information about the location, order, and orientation of functionally relevant components of the genome, such as the size and location of long repeats and integration sites. It enables the detection of structural variations, including insertions, deletions, inversions, translocations, and repeats that "are fundamental to understanding, diagnosing, and treating many human diseases," BioNano said in a statement, adding structural variations also play a crucial role in the understanding of food crops and other agricultural biotechnology areas.
Such variations have been referred to as the "inaccessible genome," the San Diego-based firm said, because other genomic tools miss their detection. "Understanding structural variation is essential to advancing the clinical impact and diagnostic use of genomics," Tracy Warren, chair of BioNano's board, said. The Irys system "offers the missing link between sequencing data and actionable clinical data."
BioNano previously said in a regulatory document in June that it had raised $5 million. In October, it said it raised $10 million. A company spokesperson said those amounts are included in the Series C financing.