Freenome, a South San Francisco, Calif.-based biotechnology company, raised $270m in Series C financing.
The round was led by new investor Bain Capital Life Sciences and existing investor Perceptive Advisors. They were joined by a group of other new investors, including Fidelity Management & Research Company, LLC, Janus Henderson Investors, Farallon Capital Management, Rock Springs Capital, Cormorant Asset Management, EcoR1 Capital, LLC, Catalio Capital Management, and the Colorectal Cancer Alliance. Freenome’s existing investors also participated in the financing, including RA Capital Management, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., American Cancer Society’s BrightEdge Ventures, Sands Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, DCVC, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Novartis, Polaris Partners, Roche Venture Fund, Soleus Capital, and Section 32. In conjunction with the funding, Ellen Hukkelhoven, Ph.D., a Managing Director at Perceptive Capital, will join the Freenome Board of Directors.
The company, which has raised over $500m since launch, intends to use the funds to accelerate the PREEMPT CRC™ clinical trial for its blood test for colorectal cancer screening and precancerous lesion detection, advance a pipeline of blood tests for both the early detection and early intervention of additional cancers, and continue building its proprietary multiomics platform.
Led by CEO Gabriel Otte, Freenome is a biotechnology company that has developed a comprehensive multiomics platform for early cancer detection with a routine blood draw, beginning with a colorectal cancer screening test. The company combines its deep expertise in molecular biology with advanced computational biology and machine learning techniques to recognize disease-associated patterns among billions of circulating cell-free biomarkers. Freenome is integrating the actionable insights through a machine learning feedback loop with healthcare providers to leverage real-world data and improve patient care through early detection.
PREEMPT CRC is an FDA registrational study launched in May 2020 to support approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the first front-line blood test to help the 45 million people who are currently not up-to-date on colorectal cancer screening guidelines in the U.S.
FinSMEs
26/08/2020