Health

Clear Labs Raises $60MM in Series C Financing to Accelerate Breakthrough Approach that Identifies Pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2 and Its Variants, in Real-Time

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With this new funding, Clear Labs can focus on continuing to innovate our capabilities so that we can deliver the early warning system, enhanced real-time genomic surveillance of the pathogen(s) and in-depth variant tracking that the public and private health communities need.


SAN CARLOS, Calif. (PRWEB)

Clear Labs, provider of the only fully automated, next-generation sequencing (NGS) platform for turnkey diagnostics, has secured $60 million in Series C funding. The financing was co-led by new investors Counterpoint Global (Morgan Stanley) and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., with significant participation by existing investors including Redmile Group, Menlo Ventures, Wing Ventures, GV, HBM Genomics, Khosla Ventures, Felicis Ventures, and Dafgard.

The oversubscribed round of financing will help broaden availability of Clear Labs solutions to help public health organizations, reference labs, hospitals, and epidemiologists more easily identify and trace all strains of pathogens, like SARS-CoV-2. As the virus continues to mutate and several variants of SARS-CoV-2 have intensified the spread, the World Health Organization (WHO) is now classifying B1.617 SARS-CoV-2, which was first detected in India, as a variant of concern and said the variant is more transmissible.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has shined a light on the critical and immediate need for more comprehensive pathogen screening and surveillance” said Sasan Amini, co-founder and CEO of Clear Labs. “With this new funding, Clear Labs can focus on continuing to innovate our capabilities so that we can deliver the early warning system, enhanced real-time genomic surveillance of the pathogen(s) and in-depth variant tracking that the public and private health communities need. 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.”

With its rapid WGS workflow solution, Clear Dx™ Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS), Clear Labs determines the complete RNA sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 genome in less than 24-hours and as a result, Clear Dx™ WGS can more easily determine the nature of virus transmission by differentiating viral strains, and monitoring mutations, which can lead to variants. The Clear Dx™ SARS-CoV-2 Diagnostic Assay (EUA-approved) allows labs to simultaneously perform diagnostic screening and genomic surveillance for the same price as a traditional PCR screening test.

“The Clear Labs platform enabled us to quickly and easily identify the UK SARS-CoV-2 variant in Nevada this January,” said Dr. Mark W. Pandori, Director, Nevada State Public Health Laboratory. “By tapping into the power of Clear Labs’ approach to sequencing, our researchers and lab staff can focus on critical analysis of pathogens and therefore, can make a bigger difference in the understanding and management of infectious diseases, like COVID-19.”

“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, Managing Partner at GV. “The team’s deep technical expertise, combined with the strength of its next-generation sequencing platform, will drive positive outcomes as we look to new ways to combat food-borne pathogens and infectious disease.”

In addition to its diagnostic solutions, Clear Labs is widely recognized as the pioneer in food safety for listeria and salmonella detection. The Clear Safety platform leverages the power of its automated and intelligent next-generation sequencing platform to substitute PCR, culturing, and antigen-based tests to validate whether a pathogen is present or absent.

For more information, visit https://www.clearlabs.com/.

About Clear Labs

Clear Labs harnesses the power of next-generation sequencing (NGS) to simplify complex diagnostics for clinical and applied markets. By creating the only fully-automated platform that brings together DNA sequencing, robotics and cloud-based analytics, Clear Labs democratizes genomics applications to deliver increased clarity. Clear Labs’ turnkey platform accelerates outcomes and improves accuracy – from food-borne pathogens to infectious diseases, including SARS-CoV-2. With a novel approach, Clear Labs is helping the world better understand, track and mitigate tomorrow’s novel pathogens.

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