Deepcell caps $20m series A

Deepcell, a US-based automated cell analysis technology spinout of Stanford University, closed a $20m series A round on Monday featuring its founding institution.
The round was led by Bow Capital and featured venture firms Andreessen Horowitz, DCVC and 50Y, as well as angel investors including Jeff Dean, head of AI at internet technology provider Google.
Founded in 2017, Deepcell has built a cloud-based software platform for classifying and isolating individual biological cells using artificial intelligence (AI)-driven big data analysis.
Deepcell’s AI can identify infinitesimal morphological features and continually enhances its analysis based on results from previous experiments.
Targeting whole cells also means the software can offer detail on the specimen’s specific DNA, RNA, epigenetic and protein contents.
Deepcell claims it isolates almost any breed of cell, even those which are astronomically rare. The series A cash will go to technology development.
The spinout previously secured $5m in a seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz. While it has not confirmed when the deal occurred, a regulatory filing states it raised $4m in 2017.
Its co-founders include Euan Ashley, a professor of medicine and genetics and associate dean of Stanford’s School of Medicine.