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WuXi NextCode Closes $240M Series B Round

CHICAGO (GenomeWeb) – WuXi NextCode has wrapped up a $240 million Series B round of financing with new investments from a consortium of mostly Chinese investors. This represents an extension of the round, which included a $75 million cash infusion announced in May.

New investor Sequoia China led the lead investment consortium, which also included previous participants Temasek, Yunfeng Capital, and 3W Partners. Yunfeng is a private equity firm founded by Alibaba Group Holding's Jack Ma. Amgen Ventures participated in the early stages of the Series B round, the company said.

WuXi NextCode, which is headquartered in Shanghai and has offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and in Reykjavik, Iceland, will use the money to continue its quest to "serve as the global platform for using genome data to advance global health," CEO Hannes Smarason said in a statement.

Specifically, the company will build out its technology infrastructure with artificial intelligence and deep learning, as well as seek partnerships in precision medicine and diagnostics. WuXi NextCode also wants to commercialize genomic tests for the Chinese market, a previously stated goal.

WuXi NextCode has already launched a whole-genome sequencing product for healthy individuals, called HealthCode, in China. The firm presented the first results from a pilot study on HealthCode involving 190 customers at the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics annual meeting earlier this year.