Illumina Accelerates Four Selected Startups
Illumina has announced the winners of the third round of its accelerator program. The genomics company will invest in four biotech startups that work on nutrition, synthetic biology, the skin microbiome and reproductive health.
The companies -MetaMixis, Vitagene, Skinomics and NextGen Jane- will receive support in many fronts. Apart from seed investment, they will receive $40 million from the Illumina Accelerator Boost capital, access to Illumina’s NextBio genomics database, free sequencing systems, reagents and Genologics Clarity LIMS software. During six months -the length of the funding cycle-, the companies will have free lab space. Illumina will coach the companies with a team of genomics professionals.
Credit: Metamixis.
Metamixis is a synthetic biology spin-off that builds biosensors, through a proprietary method, that screen massive environmental DNA libraries. The screens discover enzymes and pathways that can be used to transform living beings to produce specific materials and chemicals. The company supports a sustainable growth of societies based on bioeconomy, finding natural solutions to the problems. NextGen Jane is a genomics company that plans to collect genetic information of women over long spans of time to make personalized health predictions. Skinomics is a company that will use skin microbiome and genomics information to improve skin care. Vintagene is a genomics company that will develop personalized health products.
On a separate note, Illumina has announced their support to the genome editing software company Desktop Genetics.
Source: genomeweb