NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Next-generation sequencing-based diagnostics firm Guardant Health today announced it raised $30 million in a Series B financing.
Khosla Ventures led the round and was joined by existing investor Sequoia Capital and new investor Pejman Mar Ventures.
The financing "will allow Guardant Health to accelerate the expansion of its commercial operations to support growing demand and ensure a distinctively high level of service for our physicians and patients," Guardant CEO and Co-Founder Helmy Eltoukhy said in a statement.
The company — which was founded in 2012 by Eltoukhy and President and CTO AmirAli Talasaz, both former employees of Illumina — markets the blood-based Guardant 360 test, which analyzes genomic alterations in patients. The test uses a proprietary target capture method called Digital Sequencing to analyze 54 oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, as Clinical Sequencing News reported recently. The test is available via early access.
According to Guardant, its technology genetically profiles trace fragments of tumor DNA in the blood stream and "provides high-fidelity tumor sequencing information at the single-molecule level."