US-based diagnostics technology developer Freenome completed a $160m series B round yesterday that included pharmaceutical firm Roche, internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet and care consortium Kaiser Permanente.
Investment firms RA Capital Management and Polaris Partners co-led the round, participating alongside American Cancer Society’s BrightEdge Ventures, T.Rowe Price Associates, Andreessen Horowitz, Data Collective Venture Capital and Section 32.
Roche and Kaiser Permanente took part in the round through their Roche Ventures and Kaiser Permanente Ventures vehicles respectively. Alphabet invested through both its Verily Life Sciences subsidiary and GV corporate venturing unit.
Freenome has developed a blood testing platform that uses machine learning and computer science to detect early signs of diseases such as colorectal, breast and prostate cancer.
The company will use the series B capital to accelerate development of its platform, as well as to bolster its laboratory and software resources. It also plans to conduct a validation study for the application of its technology in colorectal cancer screening.
Freenome raised $65m in March 2017, as the first close of its series A round. Andreessen Horowitz led the tranche, which included GV, Data Collective, Founders Fund, Polaris Partners, Innovation Endeavors, Asset Management Ventures, CRV and Spectrum 28.
Section 32 led a $7m series A extension to the round five months later, investing alongside Anne Wojcicki, the co-founder and chief executive of personal genomics company 23andMe, and unnamed corporate and private investors.
The company had previously raised $5.5m in a 2016 seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz and backed by Founders Fund, Data Collective, Third Kind Venture Capital and undisclosed additional investors.