US-based oncology diagnostics technology developer Freenome completed a $270m series C round yesterday featuring pharmaceutical firms Roche and Novartis, healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente and internet and technology group Alphabet.
Bain Capital Life Sciences and Perceptive Advisors co-led the round, which included investment and financial services group Fidelity, American Cancer Society’s BrightEdge Ventures fund, Janus Henderson Investors, Farallon Capital Management and Rock Springs Capital.
Cormorant Asset Management, EcoR1 Capital, Catalio Capital Management, Colorectal Cancer Alliance, RA Capital Management, Sands Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, DCVC, Polaris Partners, Soleus Capital, Section 32 and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price filled out the round.
Alphabet, Kaiser Permanente and Roche participated through respective corporate venturing units GV, Kaiser Permanente Ventures and Roche Venture Fund.
Freenome has developed a system that can detect cancer with a single blood draw using multiomics technology that combines multiple forms of biological analysis. It has a screening test for colorectal cancer in clinical trials along with one that will detect precancerous lesions.
William Quirk, chief financial officer of Freenome, said: “This funding will allow us to execute on our business plans by accelerating the registrational study for our blood test for colorectal cancer screening toward approval, reimbursement and commercialisation while, at the same time, advancing our pipeline of blood tests for screening other cancers.
“We are well positioned for Freenome’s next stage of growth, leveraging the full potential of our novel multiomics platform as a disruptive technology for cancer screening.”
Andreessen Horowitz led a $5.5m seed round for the company in 2016 that also featured Founders Fund, DCVC and Third Kind Venture Capital.
The first three seed investors returned for a series A round that closed at $72m in 2017, participating alongside GV, Section 32, Polaris Partners, Innovation Endeavors, Asset Management Ventures, CRV, Spectrum 28 and Anne Wojcicki.
Freenome raised a further $160m in a July 2019 series B round co-led by Polaris Partners and RA Capital Management that included Roche Ventures, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, GV and fellow Alphabet subsidiary Verily Life Sciences.
BrightEdge Ventures, T.Rowe Price, Andreessen Horowitz, Data Collective Venture Capital and Section 32 were also among the series B investors.
