Funding forms around DNAnexus

DNAnexus, a spin-out of Stanford University, has secured $15m in its latest venture round for its platform-as-a-service (PaaS) DNA management software.

The series C round was co-led by venture firms First Round Capital, Claremont Creek Ventures, and the venturing units of internet giant Google and private investment firm TPG – Google Ventures and TPG Biotech, respectively.

The latest round bring the Palo Alto-based company’s total venture backing to $31.6m, which includes support from other backers including venture firms SoftTech VC, K9 Ventures, and Felicis Ventures with support from Google, First Round, and TPG in previous rounds.

DNAnexus’ DNA management software enables scientific collaboration on genomic research by providing a central hub through which users can share tools and data, as well as enabling labs of any size access to its computational and storage resources.

The firm has also recently announce large-scale projects with its parent Stanford and the Texas-based Baylor College of Medicine to handle genomic data. Through these two projects, DNAnexus has processed over 17,000 genomes – equating to over 500 terabytes of data – all of which can be accessed through the platform.

Richard Daly, chief executive of DNAnexus, said: “This is an exciting time of growth for DNAnexus. This funding will significantly expand our capacity to support the growing number of commercial and academic labs around the world utilizing our platform to manage DNA data and analyses in a clinically appropriate manner. We welcome Claremont Creek Ventures to the team and are pleased with the continued support from Google Ventures, TPG Biotech, and First Round Capital.”