US-based diagnostics technology developer Karius has raised $50m in a series A round from a consortium that included internet company Tencent, CNBC reported on Saturday.
The round also featured venture capital firms Khosla Ventures, Data Collective, Innovation Endeavors and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Karius has developed a test that identifies the source of a patient’s infection, revealing whether the cause is bacterial, viral or fungal by analysing fragments of DNA in their blood.
The technology is currently able to detect more than 1,000 different infections and can produce results within a day, rather than the weeks or months required by other approaches that rely on a process of elimination.
The funding will support the launch of the company’s technology to clinical practices across the US by the end of 2017.
Karius is currently aiming its test at critically ill patients and infants who do not produce enough blood to enable several rounds of traditional tests, and plans to widen its focus to chronically ill patients and investigate using other tissue samples for its tests.
Innovation Endeavors and Spectrum 28 had previously supplied approximately $5.3m in seed capital for Karius, according to deals database PitchBook.