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| Natera CEO Matthew Rabinowitz |
Natera reeled in $55 million in private financing, adding fuel to its R&D engine as it develops its prenatal DNA screening test and expands the reach for its noninvasive diagnostic technology.
Silicon Valley luminary Sofinnova Ventures led the round, with big names such as OrbiMed Advisors, Healthcor Partners and Capital Research and Management contributing funds. San Carlos, CA-based Natera plans to use the fresh infusion of cash to expand worldwide sales and marketing and to invest in R&D. In particular, the company said it will focus on beefing up Panorama, its test for fetal abnormalities, developing a noninvasive, cell-free, DNA-based test for early detection and monitoring of cancer, and running clincal trials to demonstrate the test's effectiveness and utility in clinical practice.
"This investment is a significant endorsement of our cloud-based bioinformatics and molecular technologies, and our deep R&D pipeline. We are proud to continue working with the leading healthcare and life sciences investors in the world, including Sofinnova, and together to pursue our vision of delivering accurate and timely genetic information to patients and physicians worldwide," CEO Matthew Rabinowitz said in a statement.
The latest spate of financing bodes well for Natera as it looks to chart growth for Panorama and make headway in the cancer diagnostic field. In November, the company, along with Illumina's ($ILMN) Verinata Health and Ariosa Diagnostics, scored deals to provide diagnostic testing to California women through the state's prenatal screening program, opening the door to wider patient access for its diagnostic tool. Natera, a 2013 Fierce 15 company, bills Panorama as more comprehensive and sensitive than other prenatal tests. The diagnostic can detect chromosomal abnormalities linked to Down syndrome, Edwards syndrome, Patau syndrome and Turner syndrome with greater than 99% sensitivity.
But Natera is not stopping with prenatal testing; The company in June 2014 struck a deal with New York's Feinstein Institute for Medical Research to see whether its noninvasive technology could detect and monitor cancer. The cancer diagnostic would work similarly to its prenatal DNA test, screening circulating tumor DNA in the bloodstream to determine whether a patient has the disease. Eventually, the company hopes to "enable cancer detection across multiple tumor types" through early and accurate results, Rabinowitz said at the time.
- read the release
Special Report: 2013 Fierce 15 - Natera