NEW YORK – Metagenomics technology company IDbyDNA announced Wednesday it has raised $20 million in a Series B financing round. Artis Ventures led the round, joined by Genesys Capital and other investors.
The firm said in a statement it will use the funds to enhance and expand its Explify software platform and to support the opening of a CLIA-approved commercial laboratory.
The University of Utah spinout is based in San Francisco with a lab in Salt Lake City, Utah. Its Explify next-generation sequencing-based diagnostics platform identifies more than 50,000 microorganisms — including more than 3,000 pathogens. It can also quantify and detect antimicrobial resistance, the firm said.
"We believe IDbyDNA's technology has hit a tipping point and is now set to revolutionize the way we respond to, and tackle, infectious disease outbreaks, and address the growing concerns of antimicrobial resistance," Stuart Peterson, partner at Artis Ventures, said in a statement. Artis Ventures also led IDbyDNA's $9 million Series A funding round.
In 2018, IDbyDNA licensed Explify to Brazil-based Fleury Group and partnered with Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine on a clinical trial using Explify to diagnose central nervous system infections in pediatric patients.