The genetic testing service, spun out from City University of Hong Kong, took its total funding to approximately $53m with a round co-led by Alibaba and Beyond Ventures.
Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, a subsidiary of e-commerce group Alibaba, co-led a $40m series B round for Prenetics, a China-based genetic testing services spinout from City University of Hong Kong, yesterday.
The round was co-led by venture capital fund Beyond Ventures and included Yuantai Investment Partners, mFund and eGarden Ventures.
Originally known as Multigene, Prenetics was spun out from City University of Hong Kong in 2009. It provides a genetic testing service to policyholders of insurance provider partners including Prudential, AIA and HSBC Insurance.
Prenetics also offers a digital health app that uses the results of genetic testing to provide optimised diets, fitness regimes and advice on possible drug reactions.
The funding will be used by the company to expand into additional Asian markets, continue research and development and recruit more engineers and scientists.
Prenetics raised $10m in a March 2016 series A round led by Ping An Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of insurance provider Ping An, and backed by Venturra Capital, 500 Startups, Coent Venture Partners and Capital Union Investments.
The company had already brought in $2.65m from 500 Startups, SXE Ventures, Coent Venture Partners and angel investors Danny Yeung and Joel Neoh in a 2014 seed round.
Cindy Chow, executive director of Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, said: “We have been highly impressed with the mission and business strategy adopted by Prenetics.
“In a short time, the company has emerged as Southeast Asia’s market leader in genetic testing and digital health. We look forward to working closely with Prenetics throughout Alibaba’s network of companies to provide individuals with valuable health information.”
– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.
