Bio-Techne has bought University of Minnesota-founded genome editing platform operator B-Mogen Biotechnologies to solidify a business relationship that dates to 2016.

B-Mogen Biotechnologies, a US-based genome editing services spinout of University of Minnesota, has been purchased by biotech and clinical diagnostics products supplier Bio-Techne for an undisclosed sum, StarTribune reported yesterday. While terms were not disclosed, Bio-Techne confirmed it would directly fund the acquisition from its cash holdings. Founded in 2015, B-Mogen Biotechnologies provides strategic support and other services for genomic engineering with the purpose of making drug development programs including gene and cell therapies more effective. Services offered by B-Mogen Biotechnologies fall into three subdivisions – therapeutic genome engineering, mitochondrial genome engineering and applications with broad appeal such as cell line services and pluripotent stem cell engineering. The company’s founding intellectual property was created by three researchers from the paediatrics department at University of Minnesota’s medical school – assistant professors Branden Moriarity and Beau Webber, and Prof David Largaespada. Bio-Techne believes the acquisition will strengthen its service offering for cell and gene therapy development, two biotech segments experiencing substantial growth. The firm co-led a series A round in 2016 with University of Minnesota’s Discovery Capital Investment Program, with participation from Mayo Clinic Ventures, the investment arm of medical practice Mayo Clinic, and Lateral Capital. A regulatory filing at the time stated the round raised approximately $1m. B-Mogen and Bio-Techne had also entered a commercial partnership in 2016 providing the latter with access to B-Mogen’s gene editing technology. Jeff Liter, president and chief executive of B-MoGen, said: “Given our shared goal to move our products into clinical and commercial applications, there is a great strategic fit between the two companies.”

Subscribe to go deeper

GCV subscribers get access to all our proprietary data and deep-dive articles, as well as the global directory of CVC investors.



Not sure if you have a subscription?