NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Genomic informatics company GenomeNext announced today that it has raised $1.2 million in seed funding led by Hydra Capital and private investors.
The company officially opened its doors in March 2014, and released its first product in January 2015 — a proprietary cloud-based data analysis pipeline that scientists in research and clinical contexts can use to process, analyze, and annotate variants in whole-genome, exome, and targeted panel.
GenomeNext was founded to commercialize computational technology developed by researchers at the Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio for quickly and efficiently analyzing large quantities of genomic information. The company licensed the technology from the hospital.
More recently, GenomeNext benchmarked a timeframe for the analysis of a massive quantity of genomic data demonstrating population-scale capability. The firm analyzed the whole genomes and exomes of 2,504 individuals sampled across 26 different populations in one week, processing 1,000 samples per day, and generating close to 100 terabytes of processed result files.
The firm plans to use the seed funding to expand its existing sales infrastructure and marketing initiatives, and to continue developing products.
"This funding will enable GenomeNext to expand our commercial and operational capacity, facilitate continued evolution of our genomic analysis platform, and further our commitment to deliver increased value and utility to successfully address the computational and big-data complexities inherent in genomic medicine," said Co-founder and CEO James Hirmas in a statement.