NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – DNA sequencing technologies startup GenapSys has raised $8.5 million of a target goal of $13.6 million, the company disclosed in a document recently filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company said in its Form D that the amount raised is in the form of equity, and 11 investors participated in the raise.
Hesaam Esfandyarpour, GenapSys' founder and CEO, did not respond to requests seeking comment and it is unclear who the participants are in the private financing round. It also is unclear how the funds will be used.
Based in Redwood City, Calif., GenapSys was founded in 2010 and is developing a "cost-disruptive, easy-to-use genomic diagnostic platform" based on the company's Genius technology, it said on its website. The firm is in stealth mode and has provided few details about its technology.
Last year it received two grants for about $4 million in funding from the National Human Genome Research Institute to develop its sequencer. According to the grants' abstracts, GenapSys is working toward a platform that can sequence a genome at a consumables price of $50, generate average read lengths of up to 1,000 bases, and provide a "pre-assembly accuracy" of greater than 99.7 percent "with similar cost reduction and simplification for sample preparation," GenomeWeb Daily News sister publication In Sequence reported.