Over the past year, companies large and small have pivoted their work to respond to COVID-19 from a variety of industries, whether it’s healthcare players going digital or car manufacturers producing ventilator parts.
And while some may look to pivot back after the emergency has passed, Clear Labs is looking to put down new roots. The testing company first started in food safety, using genome sequencing tech to scan produce for pathogens such as salmonella and listeria before they reach the dinner table.
Now, Clear Labs has raised $60 million to help continue its work against the novel coronavirus, including with a fully automated diagnostic platform for tracking SARS-CoV-2 and its emerging variants.
The company’s series C round was co-led by Morgan Stanley’s Counterpoint Global as well as funds and accounts managed by T. Rowe Price Associates plus participation from Redmile Group, Menlo Ventures, Wing Ventures, GV, HBM Genomics, Khosla Ventures, Felicis Ventures and Dafgard.
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The proceeds will help advance Clear Labs’ turnkey solutions for real-time genomic analysis of the virus, designed for public health organizations, reference labs, hospitals and epidemiologists.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has shined a light on the critical and immediate need for more comprehensive pathogen screening and surveillance,” Clear Labs co-founder and CEO Sasan Amini said in a statement. “This pandemic will not be the last, but with advancements in our use of fully automated genomic sequencing and our ability to scale more rapidly, we are confident Clear Labs can help better manage pathogens and improve future outcomes.”
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In the past year the company obtained an emergency authorization from the FDA for its next-generation sequencing platform aimed at COVID-19 contract tracing and mutation monitoring.
It also commercially launched its whole-genome sequencing test that automatically flags certain coronavirus variants in less than 24 hours, such as the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 strains first identified in the U.K. and South Africa, respectively.
“Clear Labs brings novel genetic sequencing techniques to the food quality industry and the company’s efforts to expand into human infectious disease testing addresses a critical need in the market,” said Krishna Yeshwant, M.D., managing partner at GV.