Encodia Closes $75M Series C Financing Led by Northpond Ventures and Deerfield Management
SAN DIEGO, January 27, 2021 (Newswire.com) - Encodia, a privately held biotech company developing next-generation solutions for proteomics research, announced the closing of a $75 million Series C financing led by Northpond Ventures and Deerfield Management, joined by GV, Alexandria Venture Investments, and existing investors ARCH Venture Partners, Biomatics Capital, Decheng Capital, Tao Capital Partners, and Nan Fung Life Sciences. The investment will accelerate productization of Encodia's patented ProteoCode™ platform for broad use in life science research and subsequent clinical applications. Sharon Kedar of Northpond and Dr. Andrew ElBardissi of Deerfield Management are joining Encodia's Board of Directors.
Proteomics is a fundamentally important frontier in biology's omics revolution, yet research in this field has been hobbled by a lack of accessible and highly scalable tools comparable to those widely applied in genomics and transcriptomics research. The complex chemistry, immense variety, and broad range of concentrations that make proteins compelling targets for study have also made their exploration at depth and scale extremely difficult. Encodia's ProteoCode technology addresses these challenges by providing digital protein sequence information, bringing the potential for unprecedented power and ease of use to the field of proteomics. ProteoCode complements high-throughput genomics and transcriptomics and will enable fundamental new insights into biological systems and the origins of disease.
Encodia was founded by Drs. Mark Chee (President), Kevin Gunderson (CTO), and Michael Weiner (Board member), a team with extensive experience inventing, developing, and commercializing transformative platform technologies and assays. Dr. Chee co-founded Illumina in 1998 and served as Vice President of Genomics and Bioinformatics. His career includes serving as Director of Genetics Research at Affymetrix and CEO/CSO of Prognosys Biosciences. Dr. Gunderson led Illumina's Advanced Research Group for nearly 18 years, helping to create its first $1 billion product line. He holds over 50 patents and patents pending for inventions in a broad variety of scientific disciplines. Dr. Weiner is a serial entrepreneur in applied proteomics, genomics and genetics. He founded AxioMx, Inc., currently serves as VP Molecular Sciences at AbCam, and holds numerous patents and patents pending. They have recruited a top-notch team of scientists and engineers for the entirely in-house development of Encodia's platform technology.
"Encodia has been focused since its founding on delivering a truly pioneering approach to proteomics," said Dr. Chee. "Our aim is to deliver a system that enables researchers to probe the immense complexity of the proteome routinely and at a scale that was previously unattainable. Our ambition is to help researchers realize a more integrated view of biology and, thus, accelerate progress in biomedical research."
"Encodia's work will usher in a new era of omic analysis, fostering innovation that will advance biomedical research and benefit human health," said Sharon Kedar, co-founder and partner at Northpond Ventures. "We are proud to join visionary innovators like Mark, Kevin, and the Encodia team in their work to bring this breakthrough technology to market."
About Encodia
Encodia is a privately held biotechnology company bringing the power of sequencing to proteomics. The company's patented ProteoCode technology enables highly scalable protein analysis via an accessible and easy-to-use benchtop instrument. Tools employing Encodia's ProteoCode technology will drive new biological understanding with impact in data-driven drug discovery and development, new high-complexity diagnostics, and beyond. For more information, please visit www.encodia.com.
About Northpond Ventures
Northpond Ventures is a global science, medical, and technology focused venture capital firm, with offices in Bethesda, Maryland; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and San Francisco. Northpond Ventures has in excess of $1 billion of committed capital. Our mission is to build a better tomorrow. Learn more at npv.vc.
About Deerfield Management
Deerfield is a healthcare investment management firm committed to advancing healthcare through investment, information and philanthropy.
Contact: media@encodia.com
Source: Encodia, Inc.