MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Quantapore Inc. announced the completion of a $15.55 million sale of Series 3 Preferred Stock led by Northern Light Venture Capital (NLVC). Tsingyuan Ventures and Sangel Venture Capital were major investors in the round and were joined by Baidu Ventures and Cloudstone VC. Mr. Feng Deng of NLVC has joined Quantapore’s Board of Directors.
Quantapore Inc. has developed a novel, nanopore sequencing technology able to rapidly and accurately sequence DNA at one tenth the cost of prevailing technologies. Quantapore’s proprietary technology is based on an optical interaction between a single DNA molecule and a nanopore and can be scaled to hundreds of thousands of nanopores per chip. This novel approach achieves long-read DNA sequencing at unprecedented speed, accuracy and cost. Additionally, this technology eliminates the laborious sample preparation steps required with existing technologies, further decreasing cost and opening new market opportunities for genomic sequencing.
The current funding will be used to advance Quantapore’s technology to beta units for deployment to select, early-adopters in industry and academia. During the next several months the Company will be hiring additional software and hardware staff to accelerate product development.
“I am very happy to welcome our new investors to the Quantapore family and am particularly excited to have a seasoned investor like Feng on our Board. With the support of our investors combined with the efforts of our talented and dedicated team, I look forward to taking Quantapore’s technology to market and bringing the power of genomics within reach for researchers and clinicians everywhere,” said Quantapore’s CEO Dr. Martin Huber. “Until now, we have operated in stealth mode while we were developing this revolutionary way to sequence DNA and RNA. You’ll hear more from us in the coming months.”
“I am very excited to play a part in the realization of Martin’s vision and look forward to working with the team to bring this exciting technology to market,” said Feng Deng, Founder and Managing Director of Northern Light Venture Capital. “As a long-time investor in genomics, I know well the opportunity and the need for new technologies to make the sequencing process easier and more cost-effective. Quantapore’s optical nanopore technology holds great promise to rapidly move the industry forward.”
The global market for genomic testing is estimated at $10 billion. This market is expected to grow exponentially with equipment and consumables representing 60% of the total market. Development of more efficient and rapid genomic sequencing methodologies is anticipated to further drive adoption of sequencing platforms as well as smaller scale platforms for clinical diagnostics.
About Quantapore Incorporated
Quantapore Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on the development of
an ultra-low-cost, high-throughput DNA sequencing platform. Based in
Menlo Park, CA, the company was founded in 2009 and is well on its way
to the commercialization of its novel sequencing platform. The
combination of low cost, long reads, simple workflow and fast
sample-to-results turnaround time holds the promise to make Quantapore
Inc. one of the world’s leading sequencing system providers.
www.quantapore.com
About Northern Light Venture Capital
Northern Light Venture Capital (NLVC) is a leading China-focused venture
capital firm targeting early stage opportunities of innovation and
disruptive technology. Since founded by Feng Deng in 2005, Northern
Light has backed over 200 ventures in TMT, healthcare and advanced
technology. Leveraging significant investing and entrepreneurial
expertise in both China and the United States, the NLVC team looks to
support entrepreneurs with groundbreaking ideas and exceptional vision
to develop lasting ventures that positively impact society.
www.nlvc.com.
About Tsingyuan Ventures
Tsingyuan Ventures is a technology-focused venture fund investing in
seed to A-round startups in the United States. It has maintained deep
ties to the extensive Tsinghua University and other leading universities
network in both the US and China. The fund has used this network and
deep technical expertise to source and invest in some of the best early
stage companies since 2011.
www.tsingyuan.ventures
About Sangel Venture Capital
Sangel Venture Capital is a venture capital investment firm established
in 2010 in Shenzhen, China. Sangel Venture Capital provides venture
capital and business finance to support high-tech enterprises in China,
Canada and the USA. The company seeks to invest in innovative
enterprises in sectors including: biomedicine, medical devices,
healthcare and bio-tech.
www.sangelvc.com
About Baidu Ventures
Baidu Ventures is a venture capital arm specializing in startups and
early stage investments. The firm typically invests in pan-internet,
artificial intelligence, augmented reality and virtual reality. Baidu
Ventures was founded in September 2016 and is headquartered in China.
www.bv.ai
About Cloudstone VC
Cloudstone is a US dollar fund focusing on the emerging high-tech fields
including healthcare and advanced manufacturing.
http://www.cloudstonevc.com/
