China's BGI Genomics, Chinese life science investor Healthlink Capital and global innovation fund Future Planet Capital have invested an undisclosed amount of capital in Congenica, a U.K. clinical genomics software developer for inherited diseases.
The new capital injection comes two months after Congenica raised US$10 million in a series B financing round from existing investors, Cambridge Innovation Capital and Amadeus Capital Partners, and new investor Parkwalk Advisors in February.
Alongside the investment, BGI Genomics and UniteGen, Healthlink’s associated clinical diagnostic lab, have signed commercial contracts to use Congenica’s proprietary enterprise software to support their operations in China.
These contracts represent Congenica’s first commercialization in the territory and are consistent with Congenica’s international ambitions, says a company announcement.
"This additional investment enhances our ability and commitment to deploy our software platform to international markets, particularly China, where we have established a scalable partnering model to transform the clinical genetic testing market," said Tom Weaver, CEO at Congenica.
"Genomic technology will be central to the next generation healthcare system that is evolving rapidly in China and we are delighted to be working with strategic partners, both at the financial and commercial level, who are at the forefront of that change and committed to the benefits it will bring to patients," added Weaver.
BGI Genomics, one of the world’s largest DNA sequencing service providers, will use Congenica's software as a genome annotation and clinical decision support platform for in-house programs and through its BGI-online service, enabling the adoption of genome-based genetic diagnosis in routine diagnostic testing.
"We are excited to invest in Congenica as the company pushes for international adoption and expansion, particularly to large population bases in the U.S. and China. We believe that…Congenica’s sophisticated data interpretation and clinical reporting platform has the potential to serve as a foundational tool for next-generation rare genetic disease diagnosis and treatment in a number of pre-birth and pediatric care and research applications in China, particularly as birth rates rise following the relaxation of the one-child rule," said John Qiu, co-founder and president of Healthlink.