MedGenome, a genomics research and diagnostics company, has raised about $30 million in Series C financing led by Sequoia India and Sofina s.a., with participation by Zodius Capital; Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder and former CEO of Infosys; and Lakshmi Narayanan, former CEO of Cognizant.
The Series C funding will accelerate development of the company’s affordable diagnostics tests and expand market penetration by increasing customer awareness on the importance of genetic tests. Additionally, the funding will also be used to broaden biomarker discovery programmes, the company said in statement.
MedGenome operates the largest Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) lab in South-East Asia, and a CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited sequencing lab in Foster City, CA.
The company’s services are being leveraged by pharmaceutical and biotech companies across the globe.
MedGenome’s diagnostics tests include many “firsts” for genetic diagnostics in India, including first liquid biopsy “OncoTrack” for monitoring cancer treatment, non-invasive prenatal screening test (NIPT) for pregnant women, carrier screening test for couples planning a baby, and whole exome sequencing test for identifying mutations in rare diseases.
With over a million babies born each year with genetic disorders, India carries a huge genetic disorder burden.
“Precision medicine is the ultimate goal of clinicians and patients alike, which can be enabled through extensive biomarker discovery. We has established leadership in genetic diagnostics for inherited diseases in India. We will now expand DNA-based testing to cover infectious diseases such as tuberculosis," said Sam Santhosh, Founder and Chairman of MedGenome.
“MedGenome continues to emerge as a leading genomics company bringing affordable and high quality genetic testing to emerging market consumers, supporting physicians make better decisions and leveraging the power of that data to potentially impact the global drug discovery market,” said Abhay Pandey, Managing Director at Sequoia Capital India Advisors.