Guardant Health, the US-based developer of a liquid biopsy system for cancer detection, raised $360m yesterday in a round led by an unnamed subsidiary of telecommunications firm SoftBank.
The round also featured Singaporean state-owned firm Temasek as well as Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, OrbiMed, 8VC, and funds and accounts managed by T. Rowe Price.
Founded in 2013, Guardant is working on non-invasive cancer diagnostics tests for cancer that utilise digital sequencing technology to provide a detailed picture of genomic alterations that cause cancerous tumours to grow, evolve or form resistance to treatment.
The company’s first product, Guardant360, tests a patient’s blood to provide information on advanced solid tumours, but it will spend the new funding on Project Lunar, an initiative to detect residual traces of cancer in patients who have undergone treatment.
SoftBank made its investment in Guardant alongside the establishment of a joint venture through which the companies will look to further the commercialisation of Guardant’s technology in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank, said: “Guardant Health is applying the breakthrough technologies of machine learning and genomics to cancer – one of the world’s biggest challenges.
“Guardant’s approach is built on smart science and a smart business model, in which its capabilities grow each time a doctor uses its services. Our investment will enable Guardant, already the clear leader in an exciting field, to become the Rosetta Stone for cancer, across all stages.”
The round boosted Guardant’s overall funding to approximately $550m and follows a $100m series D round in January 2016 led by OrbiMed that included Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed, Heritage Group, Pejman Mar Ventures, which is now known as Pear VC, and 8VC’s predecessor fund Formation 8.