Elegen, a leader in next-generation DNA synthesis and production, announced a Series B financing of $35 million led by Triatomic Capital. Also joining the round include strategic investors GSK – which also entered a collaboration and licensing agreement with Elegen to use their proprietary cell-free DNA manufacturing technology in developing GSK’s vaccines and medicines, and John Ballantyne (co-founder of Aldevron). Elegen’s existing investors – including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Bio + Health, KdT Ventures, 8VC, Digitalis Ventures, ACVC Partners, Alix Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures and Agilent Technologies – also joined.
This new funding round will accelerate the extension of the company’s rapidly growing ENFINIA DNA product line across clinical workflows, providing turnkey production of GMP-compliant DNA for the clinical development of genetic medicines.
Elegen differentiates itself with an ability to commercially manufacture highly accurate DNA with more length, complexity, and speed than other providers who rely on traditional cell-based cloning, which has been the standard means of generating DNA for over 50 years. Elegen’s platform enables a step-function increase in throughput and scalability while reducing synthesis limitations, failures, cell-based contamination, and days to weeks of additional hands-on time for customers.
Elegen’s technology stack continues to evolve, offering industry-leading, flexible solutions across the DNA synthesis supply chain. And after launching ENFINIA DNA in the first quarter of 2023, the company started offering options for higher synthesis scale in early Q4 2023. And in March of this year, Elegen commercialized a service for the rapid synthesis of highly complex sequences. The latest financing round further supports the company’s mission to develop innovative cell-free DNA manufacturing solutions, including IVT-ready DNA, plasmid DNA and clinical-grade DNA production.
KEY QUOTES:
“The age of genetic medicines is here, but these powerful modalities require innovative new manufacturing approaches to supply the critical input DNA material for rapid discovery, development and then wide-scale production. With this investment, we will continue to push the boundaries of DNA synthesis to accelerate upstream discovery and enable rapid and streamlined deployment of new clinical modalities.”
- Matthew Hill, Ph.D., Elegen Founder and CEO
“Elegen is poised to unlock innovation in genetic medicine with a rapid, turnkey supply of GMP-compliant DNA for research and clinical programs. Their technology platform is innovative and differentiated from other DNA synthesis providers, and we look forward to supporting Elegen’s success alongside this strong group of investors and seasoned leadership team.”
- Peter Zhou, General Partner of Triatomic Capital, who will be joining Elegen’s board
“We are proud to continue our support of Elegen and their mission to disrupt the non-scalable status quo of clinical DNA manufacturing. Across our portfolio and the ecosystem at large, companies are underserved by current DNA synthesis offerings. We recognize the tremendous potential for their next-gen DNA manufacturing in genetic medicine and individualized patient therapy.”
- Cain McClary, Founder and Managing Partner of KdT Ventures
“Elegen’s innovative approach to DNA manufacturing is critical to accelerating the pace of innovation, discovery and development in areas ranging from mRNA vaccines to cell and gene therapies to CRISPR gene editing. We believe the differentiation and scalability of Elegen’s platform will be transformative in healthcare applications and beyond.”
- Vijay Pande, Ph.D., founding general partner, a16z Bio + Health
