Ultima Genomics Emerges with $600 Million in Backing and a Vision for a $100 Genome

Ultima Genomics emerged from stealth mode with a new high-throughput, low-cost sequencing platform that delivers it says delivers a $100 genome.

Photo: Gilad Almogy, Ultima Genomics’ founder and CEO

The company said it has raised approximately $600 million from leading investors including General Atlantic, Andreessen Horowitz, D1 Capital, Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed, Marius Nacht, aMoon, Playground Global, and Founders Fund.

Currently, routine adoption of sequencing for research and diagnosis is severely constrained by cost. Over the last five years, Ultima Genomics has developed a fundamentally new sequencing architecture designed to scale beyond conventional approaches, including completely different approaches to flow cell engineering, sequencing chemistry, and machine learning.

“DNA is nature’s storage media and the instruction set for every living organism, yet with current technologies, we can’t access that information at the scale needed to truly understand complex biology” said Gilad Almogy, Ultima Genomics’ founder and CEO. “Our architecture is intended for radical scaling, and the $100 genome is merely the first example of what it can deliver. We are committed to continuously drive down the cost of genomic information until it is routinely used in every part of the healthcare system.”

The first scientific results from leading research institutes using the platform for whole-genome sequencing, single-cell sequencing, and cancer epigenetics will be presented at AGBT in Florida next week with initial data published this week.

Author: Rare Daily Staff