Congenica conjures up $50m

Congenica, a UK-based patient genomic testing service provider based on research from Wellcome Sanger Institute and the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), closed a £39m ($50m) series C round on Friday featuring Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC), the VC investor focused on the Cambridge, UK ecosystem.
The round was co-led by internet group Tencent and insurance provider Legal & General with participation by Parkwalk Advisors, part of commercialisation firm IP Group, as well as Xeraya Capital, Puhua Capital, IDO Investments and Downing Ventures.
Founded in 2014, Congenica produces genomic analysis software used by research labs to scrutinise genetic samples extracted from next-generation DNA sequencers.
The software is underpinned by machine learning which Congenica claims is able to process hundreds of human genomes in a single day.
The series C cash is expected to help Congenica strike industry partnerships as it looks to enter more international markets and clinical healthcare sectors with its technology.
Congenica also aims to invest to deliver features such as tools to extract data from electronic patient records. It struck a strategic partnership agreement with the NHS in 2018.
The spinout had secured $30.1m in series B funding over three tranches, most recently raising $17.1m in May 2019 from investors led by Parkwalk and including both CIC and Digital China Health Technologies, a corporate venturing unit for IT services group Digital China Holdings.
CIC had led the inaugural $10m series B tranche in February 2017 with backing from Parkwalk and Amadeus Capital Partners, two months before a second close of undisclosed size backed by spinout-focused investment firm Future Planet Capital, genomics technology provider BGI Genomics and healthcare services provider Healthlink.
Congenica secured $3.3m of series A funding in 2015 from CIC and Amadeus, the year after CIC had invested $1.6m of seed funding. Downing Ventures participated in the series C round as an existing investor.
David Atkins, chief executive of Congenica, said: “Genomic medicine is revolutionising healthcare, transforming outcomes for patients by providing clinicians with fast, accurate and early diagnoses and the information needed to provide life-changing answers for their patients, improving wellbeing and disease management.
“This new funding will allow us to build on our established foundation in rare disease and bring the power of our platform to new indications and new markets. We welcome our new investors to Congenica and are grateful to our existing investors for their continued support.”