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Strand Gets Investment from Burrill

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Strand Life Sciences today said that financial services firm Burrill & Co. has invested in the firm's Series B round of financing.

The amount of Burrill's investment is not being disclosed by the Bangalore, India-based bioinformatics firm. However, Strand noted that the financing included both a primary investment into the firm and a secondary buy-out of the lead investors from its Series A round.

Strand said that it will use the funds to accelerate its growth in the diagnostics market and expand its global reach. In particular, it cited its efforts to apply next-generation sequencing data to screening and identification of diseases and personalized medicine.

Though known primarily for its bioinformatics offerings, last year Strand inked a licensing deal to offer Trovagene's human papillomavirus urine test and high-risk HPV DNA assay in India and countries in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation for clinical diagnostic and carrier screening applications.

"Strand is strongly positioned to play a pivotal role in the transformation of healthcare due to the convergence of information technology and life sciences," David Wetherell, president and COO of Burrill Healthcare Venture and Private Equity Funds, said in a statement.

Burrill was the sole investor in the Series B round.

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