NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – DNA synthesis firm Molecular Assemblies announced today that it has closed a $2.3 million round of seed financing.
The financing consists of cash and conversion of promissory notes, the company said. Participating investors included Agilent Technologies, Cavendish Impact Capital Fund, Eleven Two Capital, Keshif Ventures, Genomics Investment Syndicate, Newport Holdings, and Alexandria Venture Investments.
Molecular Assemblies was founded in 2013 to advance an enzymatic method for producing high-quality, gene-length DNA more cost-effectively than current approaches.
Called EcoDNA, the technology specifically involves binding a deoxynucleotide triphosphate (dNTP) onto a solid support and the introduction of the DNA polymerase terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) to add nucleotides. The dNTP monomers are designed to remain substrates for TdT, include a terminator moiety to ensure that only a single nucleotide is adder per cycle, and that the terminator group is stable and removable.
Molecular Assemblies said it intends to use the proceeds of the financing round to advance its research and development efforts.
"Completing this seed round of financing comes at a time of rapid growth for Molecular Assemblies and enables us to invest even more into expanding our team and advancing the development of our enzymatic DNA synthesis technology," Molecular Assemblies President and CEO Michael Kamdar said in a statement. "We are particularly pleased with the high caliber of investors we are attracting to the company, a testament to the growing need for a new approach to DNA synthesis and our unique ability to potentially meet these needs in multiple markets."
"New methods of writing genetic code are desperately needed if we are to realize the promise of the next generation of genomics — from industrial synthetic biology to personalized DNA-based therapies and diagnostics and more," Kirk Wright, co-manager of Cavendish Impact, added. "We are excited to invest in Molecular Assemblies and believe that its enzymatic approach to synthesizing DNA represents a dramatic change in how DNA will be made in the future and consequently our ability to accelerate new applications of genomics."