Diagnostics services provider Agilent Technologies has led a $26.4m series B round for US-based laboratory technology developer Purigen Biosystems.
Roche Venture Fund, the corporate venturing unit of pharmaceutical firm Roche, also took part in the round, as did investment firm Cota Capital and venture capital firm 5AM Ventures.
Purigen is developing a platform that allows users to purify DNA and RNA from biological samples, including mammalian cells, fresh or formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues, liquid biopsies, plasma, blood and buccal smears, using an electric field-based technique known as isotachophoresis (ITP).
In addition to expanding its scientific and commercial operations, Purigen will use the proceeds to accelerate the launch of its ITP sample preparation platform. Kevin Corcoran, vice-president and general manager at Agilent Technologies, will join its board of directors in conjunction with the round.
Corcoran said: “Agilent is continually looking to invest in complementary technologies that will underlie tomorrow’s breakthroughs in life sciences, diagnostics and applied markets. We believe Purigen’s proprietary ITP platform offers key advantages and will help to significantly improve sample yields and their integrity.”
Roche Venture Fund participated in Purigen’s $18.2m series A round in 2016, investing alongside the Stanford University-backed Stanford StartX Fund, 5AM Ventures and Western Investments Capital.
The company had previously collected a total $1m in a combination of equity funding, debt financing and convertible note financing in 2013 and 2014, according to regulatory filings. StartX and Western Investments Capital took part in the series A round as existing investors.