NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Congenica announced today that it has raised £8 million ($10 million) after closing a round of Series B financing.
The British genomics company will use the proceeds from the round to invest in sales and marketing efforts for its Sapientia clinical genome analysis platform, as well as for R&D.
CEO Tom Weaver said in a statement that the funds should enable Congenica's goal of being the "international leader in data solutions" for diagnosis of rare genetic disease. The financing will allow Congenica to "realize the next steps in product development, international expansion, and in supporting [its] growing user base," he said.
Existing investors Cambridge Innovation Capital and Amadeus Capital Partners participated in the Series B round. Parkwalk Advisors, a London-based venture capital company, made its first investment in Congenica. The company said that Parkwalk co-founder Alastair Kilgour has joined its board of directors.
Scientists from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute founded Congenica in Cambridge in 2013. A year later, the company launched Sapienta, a tool that generates diagnostic reports based on patient symptoms and genomics data. The company is marketing Sapienta for use in clinical decision making related to treating rare genetic diseases.
Since 2015 Congenica has worked with Genomics England to analyze its 100,000 Genomes Project data and has racked up a number of similar partnerships, most recently with the UK's Prenatal Assessment of Genomes and Exomes (PAGE) study.
The company is also looking to broaden its customer base. Last month, it tapped Shikha O'Brien to serve as chief business officer. O'Brien is based in San Diego and will work to expand Congenica's presence in international clinical diagnostics markets, and with pharmaceutical partners, the company said.
Congenica received $1.6 million in seed funding in 2014, followed by $3.3 million in Series A financing in 2015. Last year, Innovate UK awarded Congenica a $454,000 grant. It has also received funding through its work with Genomics England.
For a more in-depth look at Congenica's recent fundaising, click here.