NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Quantum Biosystems said today that it has closed a ¥1 billion ($8.8 million) Series C financing round through the sale of preferred stock to Japanese venture capital company SBI Investment.
Quantum Biosystems, which was founded in January 2013 as a spinout of Osaka University, is developing a single-molecule sequencing technology intended to significantly reduce the cost and improve the accuracy of sequencing. The technology measures tunneling currents from DNA bases as the molecule passes by a sub-nanometer gap, and the company said that it has achieved resolution of one base pair with its method.
Quantum Biosystems said it plans to use the new funding to continue development of its sequencing technology by hiring additional scientists and expanding its academic and industry collaborations. It also said that it is specifically conducting research into using massively parallel nano-electrodes on a silicon device to detect current facilitated by electron tunneling and hopping.
The company last completed a funding round in 2015 for ¥2.4 billion.