NEW YORK — Austrian DNA synthesis firm Ribbon Biolabs said on Monday that it has raised €18 million ($20.1 million) in a Series A financing round from a group of European and US investors.
The round was led by Hadean Ventures and included Lansdowne Partners and Helicase Venture, as well as existing investors IST cube and Tecnet Equity.
Ribbon said it will use the proceeds of the round to commercialize its DNA synthesis technology, which uses combinatorial optimization algorithms to guide automated enzymatic assembly of DNA. This will include building production facilities with technology partners and preparing to expand into the US market. The firm also aims to add new operational and scientific staffers at its facilities in Vienna and the Institute of Science and Technology's IST Park.
"Synthetic biology is about to disrupt the biopharmaceutical and other life science industries by overcoming previous limitations with new genetic technologies," said Walter Stockinger, managing partner at Hadean Ventures, in a statement. "We are excited to support Ribbon Biolabs in its mission to fully automate long DNA synthesis through its novel and proprietary approach and to become an important player in this new field of biology."