CHICAGO (GenomeWeb) – Sequencing startup Veritas Genetics is moving deeper into analytics with the acquisition of fellow Harvard Medical School spinout Curoverse. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Curoverse, creator of open-source bioinformatics platform Arvados, grew out of the Personal Genome Project at Harvard. The acquisition will enable Veritas to offer artificial intelligence, machine learning, "automated" genome interpretation, and data sharing services, the two Boston-based companies said.
"At Veritas, we are building a platform to sequence, and more importantly, interpret hundreds of thousands, and eventually millions, of human genomes per year," Veritas Genetics Cofounder and CEO Mirza Cifric said in a statement.
"This will only be possible by deploying AI and machine learning at scale, which requires data that is produced, stored, and managed in a standardized way," Cifric continued. "Curoverse excels at this capability."
Veritas, which calls itself "The Genome Company," will operate Curoverse as a subsidiary.
Like Curoverse, Veritas builds off the work of Harvard geneticist George Church, who cofounded and has served as an advisor to both entities.
"There are very few companies in the world that have the expertise and experience of more than a decade in aggregating genomic data and enabling machine learning. I am pleased to see these two teams work even closer together. They not only share a common technological goal but also a commitment to making this invaluable information actionable and accessible," Church said in a statement.
Veritas in 2016 introduced a $999 whole-genome sequencing service. The company has raised $42 million since 2015, including a $30 million Series B round that closed late last year.