US-based genome mapping technology developer BioNano Genomics has extended its series C round, previously co-led by the corporate venturing arms of conglomerate Legend Holdings and pharmaceutical company Novartis, to $68.4m.
BioNano closed the round’s $53m first tranche in November 2014 with funding from Novartis Venture Fund, Legend Capital, Battelle Ventures, which acts as the venture capital subsidiary of non-profit medical research firm Batelle Memorial Institute, Federated Kaufmann Fund, Monashee Investment Management, Domain Associates and Gund Investment Corporation.
The company then submitted a regulatory filing last week that revealed the extra $15.4m. It has not revealed which investors provided the extra funds.
BioNano will use the funding to increase its commercialisation efforts, fund next-generation product development and build out its diagnostics roadmap, a spokeswoman told Med City News.
BioNano’s technology, based around its Irys platform, enables researchers to detect the structures of complex genomes. Variations in these structures can reveal diseases such as cancer.
KT Venture Group, the corporate venturing unit of semiconductor equipment producer KLA-Tencor, invested in BioNano’s $5.1m series A round in 2008 and $23.3m series B round in 2011.
Other investors in past rounds include Innovation Valley Partners, Domain Associates, Ben Franklin Technology Partners and 21Partners. BioNano has raised approximately $128m in debt and equity since its incorporation in 2008 as BioNanomatrix.
– Image courtesy of BioNano Genomics