Gencove, a New York-based, low-pass genome sequencing platform announced it has raised $3 million led by Spero Ventures — which is an early stage venture capital firm that spun out of Omidyar Network (investment company launched by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam). Alexandria Venture Investments and Burst Capital also participated in this round along with existing investors Third Kind Venture Capital and Version One Ventures.
“With their operational expertise and experience in scaling software companies, Spero is the ideal partner as we expand Gencove into new markets,” said Joe Pickrell, CEO of Gencove. “We’re excited to have a partner on board that brings a deep understanding of opportunities in both human and agricultural genomics.”
This funding will be used for developing new applications for agricultural markets and to expand the company’s commercial operations in human genetics. In conjunction with this round, Spero partner Shripriya Mahesh is joining Gencover’s board of directors.
“Genomics will be foundational to the health and well-being of humanity and the planet,” added Mahesh. “We are excited to partner with Gencove in its mission to bring affordable whole genome sequencing to customers and industries that have never before been able to affordably integrate it at scale.”
Gencove was founded by leading scientists from the New York Genome Center and it develops technologies that enable high-throughput and low-cost genome sequencing. And Gencove is able to deliver high-quality genomic interpretation from small amounts of sequencing data.
Some of Gencove’s technology partners include BGI and SeqWell. And the company’s customers include consumer, clinical, agricultural markets, and academic institutions such as the Broad Institute, University of Michigan, and Oxford University.
