Digital Biotechnologies Inc., a new Seattle-based subsidiary of publicly traded immune medicine company Adaptive Biotechnologies, has raised new funding as part of an initial closing Series A investment round.
According to a recent report, the round could raise a total of $15 million regulatory filing from Adaptive.
Digital Biotechnologies develops DNA sequencing technology. An Adaptive spokesperson said the startup is “adjacent” to Adaptive’s current strategic focus on immune medicine and Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) testing.
“We are proud to have supported their journey to date and look forward to seeing their continued progress in the coming years with this new funding,” the spokesperson said in a statement. Adaptive will own almost half of the company when the latest round of financing is completed.
Digital Biotechnologies operates out of Adaptive’s headquarters in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood. The spokesperson declined to provide more details about the company’s leadership or its website.
A recent job post notes that Digital Biotechnologies is working on a “clinical sequencing instrument.” From the message:
Current high-throughput sequencing methods are not suitable for many clinical applications because all current NGS platforms lack the combination of high accuracy, fast turnaround time, and low cost that would lead to robust clinical utility. Working with academic and industry scientists from across the country, Digital Biotechnologies is developing the first solid-state sequencer with the specifications needed for a broadly applicable clinical sequencing instrument.
The startup looks to leverage Adaptive’s expertise and intellectual property in immune medicine with a dedicated engineering and product organization focused on hardware.
Jason Bielasa former professor at the University of Washington and leader at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center, is co-founder of Digital Biotechnologies. According to LinkedIn, the company has a handful of other employees.
Adaptive plans to consolidate the company’s financial results into its own earnings reports.
Founded in 2009 by brothers Chad and Harlan Robins, Adaptive develops immune system-related products for the diagnosis and monitoring of cancer and other diseases. The company, which emerged from Fred Hutch, went public in 2019.
Chad Robins still leads the company as CEO. Harlan Robins is chief scientific officer. According to LinkedIn, Adaptive employs more than 600 people.
Adaptive’s shares are up more than 120% in the past twelve months. Shares rose more than 50% in November after the company beat third-quarter expectations and reported total revenue of $94 million, fueled by growth in its MRD business.
Adaptive last month entered in two autoimmune-related deals with Pfizer, including one focused on rheumatoid arthritis, which could be worth up to $890 million.
The company agreed terminate a deal with Genentech last year. That deal, originally announced in 2019, had a potential value of $2 billion.
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