Verily has taken part in an oversubscribed series B round that will fund the UC Berkeley spinout's expansion from diagnostics to gene editing and drug development.
Mammoth Biosciences, a US-based disease diagnostics technology spinout from University of California (UC) Berkeley, secured $45m in series B funding on Thursday led by life sciences investment firm Decheng Capital.
Verily, the life sciences research subsidiary of technology conglomerate Alphabet, also contributed to the round, as did Mayfield, NFX, Plum Alley Investments, Pacific 8 Ventures, aMoon and private investor Brook Byers.
Mammoth is developing disease detection systems using Crispr DNA technology, although it focuses on the Cas14 enzyme rather than the Cas9 enzyme typically utilised in gene-editing activities.
The series B proceeds will go to expanding the company’s work into areas like gene editing and medicines. It has already formed a partnership with gene-editing services provider Horizon Discovery to develop Crispr-based cell line-editing tools.
Andrew Harrison, Verily’s head of business and corporate development, said: “One of our missions is to identify and develop the next wave of innovative healthcare companies and support them through investment and inclusion in our Partner’s Space program on Verily’s campus.
“Mammoth is clearly one of these companies, driving the next-generation of Crispr products that researchers at the forefront of gene editing and diagnostics truly need.”
Mayfield led the company’s $23m series A round in mid-2018, investing together with NFX and 8VC.
Mammoth Biosciences emerged from stealth in 2018 with an undisclosed amount of funding from Mayfield, NFX, 8VC, AME Cloud Ventures, Wireframe Ventures, Kairos Ventures and Boom Capital.
