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Liquid Biopsy Startup Flomics Raises €1M

NEW YORK — Spanish liquid biopsy startup Flomics said on Monday that it has raised €1 million ($1.1 million) in seed funding.

The financing included Arcano Partners investment arm Arcano Imasd, as well as unnamed investors in the US and elsewhere.

Flomics was founded in 2018 and is developing next-generation sequencing-based tests designed to detect cell-free RNA in blood as biomarkers for cancer and other diseases using a proprietary bioinformatics platform. It currently offers a range of genomics services including sequencing data analysis.

The company said it will use the seed money to fund preclinical studies of its technology in five different types of cancer with collaborators including Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute, and the Biobank of the Andalusian Public Health System.

Flomics said it expects to commercialize a screening kit for colon and lung cancers in 2024, with an updated version of test covering three additional cancers available in 2026.

"We will also continue to explore other opportunities in the development of diagnosis, prognosis and stratification solutions of other complex diseases such as … COVID-19," Flomics Cofounder and CEO João Curado said in a statement. The firm also has programs in cerebellar atrophy and multiple sclerosis.

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