UK – Broken String Biosciences, a Cambridge, UK-based genomics company building a technology platform for cell and gene therapies, raised $15M in Series A funding.
The round was led by Illumina Ventures, Mérieux Equity Partners, and HERAN Partners with participation from existing investors Tencent and Dieter von Holtzbrinck Ventures (DvH Ventures). As part of the round, Yoann Bonnamour, Mérieux Equity Partners, and Arnaud Autret, Illumina Ventures, join the Company’s Board of Directors.The company intends to use the funds to develop its Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)-based DNA break mapping platform, INDUCE-seq™, into a scalable ‘Platform as a Service’ (PaaS) offering, and to expand its capabilities beyond gene editing, broadening its go-to-market strategy and driving commercial traction. The investment also supports its ongoing growth, including recruitment for its UK team based at the Wellcome Genome Campus, Cambridge, and the establishment of a US office.Led by CEO Felix Dobbs, Broken String Biosciences provides a platform, INDUCE-seq, that enables researchers to assess the specificity of genome editing tools and evaluate the associated off-target genetic outcomes. Its technology addresses the limitations of existing gene editing off-target measurement approaches, leveraging a novel polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-free approach to directly measure and quantify DNA double-strand breaks using NGS. It provides data-driven, actionable insights across the discovery, pre-clinical and clinical development stages for therapeutic targets within the genome and to advance gene editing programs.18/09/2023
