US-based food safety testing technology developer Clear Labs received $18m in a funding round yesterday that included GV and Tyson Ventures, investment units for technology conglomerate Alphabet and food processing firm Tyson Foods.
Redmile Group led the round, which also featured Wing VC, Menlo Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Felicis Ventures and HBM Genomics.
Founded in 2014, Clear Labs has built an automated next-generation sequencing (NGS) platform that integrates DNA sequencing, bioinformatics and robotics to enable preventative food safety management.
The capital has been allocated to the continued commercialisation of Clear Labs’ food safety platform and will also enable the company to use its NGS technology for clinical applications, including the detection of Covid-19 with a lower false-positive rate than current tests.
Clear Labs has now collected $62m in total funding, it said. Tyson Ventures previously invested an undisclosed amount in the company in April 2019, though it is unclear whether this formed part of the latest round.
Clear Labs closed a $21m series B2 round in 2018 that included Dentsu Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of digital marketing firm Dentsu, and was led by Menlo. The round further included Wing VC, Felicis, Khosla and four unnamed food producers.
Wing VC led a $13m series B round in 2016 that featured GV and internet group Tencent, as well as Khosla and Felicis. The latter two had earlier co-led a $6.5m series A round in 2015.
