DNAnexus Investor Gene Pool Includes Google And Microsoft
Tech heavy hitters deploying financial resources into advanced clinical innovation enterprises
John G. Baresky
Google and Microsoft are investors in DNAnexus, a high-profile precision medicine start-up
DNAnexus is a cloud-based genome informatics & data management platform company and a leader in biomedical informatics. It was founded in 2009 by two Stanford University professors, Serafim Batzoglou and Arend Sidow, plus a Stanford computer scientist, Andreas Sundquist.
Their latest round of funding has generated approximately $58 million from a variety of stakeholders that includes the notable technology innovators Google-Alphabet and Microsoft. DNAnexus is allocating the new financial resources into further development of precision medicine and genomic data management solutions for clinical trials.
West Coast-based with worldwide reach
Based in Mountain View, California, DNAnexus has formed a global network for genomics and other biomedical data with a presence in:
- Africa
- Asia-Pacific (including China)
- Europe
- North America
- South America.
Its scalable and secure platform supports thousands of researchers across an array of sectors including:
- Bio-agriculture
- Biopharmaceutical
- Clinical diagnostics
- Government
- Research consortiums
- Gene sequencing service companies
Besides Google and Microsoft, other leading investors involved with DNAnexus include:
- Claremont Creek Ventures
- Foresite Capital
- MidCap Financial
- TPG Biotech
- WuXi NextCODE
Claremont, Foresite and TPG are investment firms that specialize in healthcare venture capital. MidCap Financial is a diversified venture capital firm with interests in and outside of the biotech and healthcare industries. WuXi NextCODE is a China-based genomic information company and contract research organization (CRO).
A technically advanced, patient-centric approach to healthcare
Precision medicine accounts for an array of variables that are ultimately channeled into cures and/or preventative therapy based on a person’s specific genetic makeup and/or the genetic profile of a particular cellular issue a patient has.
Clinicians and payers are attracted to the focused metrics precision medicine provide as its solutions deftly zero in on complex medical challenges by sorting through enormously complex clusters of data combined with various patient care requirements.
Medical professionals can provide advanced and effective care to specific patient types based on precision medicine insights. Payers like the “dialed-in”, data-supported aspect of refined diagnosis and treatment pathways.
The primary drawbacks of precision medicine are is that it is costly and, based on present-day clinical and digital technology, it cannot be readily applied to wider patient populations.
Google, Microsoft and other technology companies are increasingly attracted to the precision medicine sector
Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) have been increasing their investments in start-up interests, developed their own innovative solutions and also assembled partnerships centered on precision medicine and other data-demanding healthcare ventures.
The deeply clinical and technical attributes of precision medicine and the high-end analytics involved with genetic research are an ideal fit for the critical thinking, high-performance data management resources Google and Microsoft possess.
DNAnexus is such a niche-focused organization that it can aptly utilize each dollar for optimum results. While the funding is a substantial boost for DNAnexus, the cash outlay by Google and Microsoft won’t crimp their checkbooks and the potential ROI is worth their investment in terms of long-term clinical and commercial potential.
Healthcare is intrinsically awash in data and analytics
Throughout the healthcare industry, there is an overwhelming need to assertively harness the data from the past and combine it with new data from the present that provides enriched results.
There is growing demand to apply that information further to generate future insights by converting accumulated statistics into actionable knowledge. Genetic research continues to generate massive amounts of data that are not easily quantified or combined to yield the clinical answers it possesses.
Google and Microsoft can advance the work of precision medicine research and capitalize on its success.
The clinical anticipation and investor runway for precision medicine is long
It is anticipated that the precision medicine healthcare vertical is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12%. The overall outlook is for it to reach $88.6 billion by 2022 from a starting point of $38.9 billion in 2015.
Looking ahead, there will be plenty of new ownership and investor interests plus additional funding from non-healthcare and healthcare industry sources. This is good news for DNAnexus as well as its leading competitors that include Bina Technologies, CLC Bio, Complete Genomics, Knome and SolveBio.
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