Evonetix Closes $24 Million Financing

Evonetix Ltd completed a $24 million financing round, extending its total series B funding to over $54 million (circa £44 million).

This fundraise was led by existing investor Foresite Capital, with Molten Ventures, Morningside, DCVC, Cambridge Consultants, Civilization Ventures and Providence also participating in the round.

The investment will enable the continued development of semiconductor chips to commercial scale, and the extension of gene assembly capabilities for its binary assembly technology to deliver accurate, gene-length DNA in a benchtop instrument. The platform has the potential to change the way this DNA is prepared and delivered to users in the rapidly growing field of synthetic biology, accelerating research in applications across pharma, biotech, food, agriculture, and storage.

Colin McCracken, CEO, commented: “This substantial investment round demonstrates continued confidence in the progress of our technical development and its potential to revolutionise the accessibility of gene synthesis. Evonetix is in a very excitingphase, having recently opened our early access program. This investment will support us as we execute on our commercial strategy to put benchtop gene synthesis in the hands of users.”

Paul Beastall, chair of the board of directors, said: “We’re delighted to have secured additional funding from our existing investors in this oversubscribed round, testament not only to the promise of our novel approach to gene synthesis, but also the unrivalled expertise of our interdisciplinary team.”

Jim Tananbaum, founder and CEO, Foresite Capital, commented: “We continue to be impressed by the Evonetix team and technology, and are excited to lead this round to accelerate their commercial strategy and make gene synthesis more accessible.”

Nelly Markova, principal, Molten Ventures, said: “Molten has been a big supporter of Evonetix from the early days. We are delighted with the huge progress the company has made towards revolutionising the gene synthesis process and look forward to continuing our partnership.“

Evonetix’s proprietary synthesis process utilises a novel silicon chip, to control the synthesis of DNA at many thousands of independent thermally controlled reaction sites, or ‘pixels’, and their assembly into accurate long DNA on the chip surface through the company’s patented Binary Assembly process. This approach enables the accurate synthesis of thousands of sequences on a single chip to meet the demand for complex libraries and assembly of long DNA in days rather than weeks, accelerating research across the field of synthetic biology.