Eli Lilly is to exit the genetic sequencing system provider Readcoor in a cash-and-share acquisition by 10x Genomics. This is one of the relatively few exits we have seen in this space over the past decade.
The transactions which will consist of a combination of cash and stock. Eli Lilly’s venturing arm Lilly Ventures had participated in a $23m series A round for ReadCoor in 2016. The company has raised $50m in funding to date.
Spun out of Harvard University in 2016, ReadCoo develops products such as a spatial sequencing system that can spatially resolve up to thousands of RNA, DNA, therapeutic molecules and proteins. The company’s RC2 Platform simultaneously detects and reads the sequences of tens to thousands of RNA, DNA, proteins, and therapeutics and can visualise sub-cellular nanoscale 3D resolution in every cell throughout any tissue section. ReadCoor’s proprietary Fluorescent in situ Sequencing technology, combines next-generation sequencing technology and high-resolution tissue imaging.
ReadCoor is part of the broader genetics tech space, which has not remained outside the radar of corporate investors. However, as our GCV Analytics bar chart below suggests, the exits for corporates in this space – whether acquisitions, IPOs or other, have been relatively few and not more than 10 recorded per year in the past decade. The latter is hardly surprising given the extensive time horizon of medical devices and therapies that is required for their development and regulatory approval.
