Element Biosciences, a developer of pioneering technologies to empower science, announced over $277 million in Series D funding to support its growing global customer base with disruptive DNA sequencing and multi-omics technologies for years to come. The oversubscribed funding round was led by Wellington Management with participation from new and existing investors, including Samsung Electronics, Fidelity, Foresite Capital, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Venrock, and others. This brings Element’s cumulative raise to $680+ million.
This funding round will further support the commercialization of AVITI (Element’s benchtop DNA sequencer) and support the upcoming launch of AVITI24 – which is the first instrument to combine state-of-the-art sequencing and cyto-profiling (mapping cell characteristics) into a single integrated biology platform. And AVITI24 transforms research by enabling simultaneous examination of DNA, RNA, proteins, phosphoproteins, and cell structure within single cells – enabling researchers to gain unparalleled insights into biological systems with unprecedented ease.
In the last year, Element’s install base of AVITI has grown from about 40 units to more than 190. Element’s customers span a diverse set of industries including academia, biotech, cancer research, and agricultural science in more than 25 countries, and its technologies are used by pioneering organizations like Cerba Research, Cornell University, Garvan Institute, Revvity, Stowers Institute, VIB, and others.
The University of Minnesota Genomics Center (UMGC), which installed its first AVITI in mid-2023, has purchased 4 additional AVITIs over the past year.
KEY QUOTES:
“After years of watching Element’s impressive progress from the sidelines, we are excited to support the company’s next chapter of growth and development. Their platform combines quality, cost, and flexibility advantages that disrupt the incumbent price curve. By bringing end-to-end integrated multi-omic workflows onto a single system, Element has potential to accelerate biological discovery.”
– Joshua Sommerfeld, healthcare sector lead at Wellington Management Private Investing
“Molly and the team at Element are cementing their position in a highly competitive environment. Their products set a new industry standard and are foundational to the next wave of biological innovation that will help researchers and businesses around the globe deliver on the promises of precision medicine and artificial intelligence. We are incredibly excited about Element’s vision to make precision medicine affordable and are impressed with the team they built together.”
– Jong-Hee (JH) Han, Vice Chairman and CEO at Samsung Electronics
“After a decade of an 800-pound gorilla dominating the ecosystem, it has been a privilege to help the exceptional Element team deliver customer-centric products that advance the quality, affordability and democratization of genomic analysis.”
– Bryan Roberts, Partner at Venrock and an early investor in Element
“We cofounded Element based on a simple belief that cutting-edge science should be available to the entire research community. Element has taken the first step to democratize sequencing and will continue helping the community uncover the secrets of biology with high-quality, flexible, rapidly iterative, and affordable tools that are accessible to more scientists. Element has grown an increasingly large, enthusiastic, and loyal customer base thanks to our innovative products and a collaborative, tenacious team that has remained committed to Element’s mission. An oversubscribed round against the backdrop of a challenging macroeconomic environment is a testament to our mission. With the support of our new and existing investors, Element is solidifying its future as the next name-brand biological tools company – a true unicorn.”
“We simply wouldn’t have made it to this remarkable stage without the initial pioneers and risk-takers who formed our earliest customer base. Element is especially grateful for their support.”
– Molly He Ph.D., CEO, Element Biosciences
“The AVITI is simple to operate, easy to integrate from a data perspective, and the quality of the output is higher than with our legacy NGS instruments,” said Dr. Beckman. “The AVITI’s scale is a great fit for our clients, most of whom need both fast turnaround and low cost.”
– Dr. Kenny Beckman, Director of the UMGC
“Precision medicine’s vast potential is being unlocked by cutting-edge genomic and multiomic technologies. Element’s groundbreaking sequencing is driving significant advancements in precision diagnostics research across critical disease areas.”
– Thomas P. Slavin, Chief Scientific Officer at HALO Precision Diagnostics, which installed four AVITI sequencers over alternative high-throughput offerings from an NGS competitor last year
