Anuva (earlier known as Global Gene Corp) has raised about $15.5-$20 million in its Series A round, a mix of cash and kind, at a valuation north of $150 million from Helix, in a strategic partnership, the company said on Tuesday.
Anuva is translational research company which creates a diverse genomic bio/data bank of the Asian populations that will be used for research and development within the pharmacy industry and develop drugs.
On the other hand, Helix – a population genomics and viral surveillance company – based in San Mateo, California, and counts DFJ Growth, Kleiner Perkins, Warburg Pincus, Temasek, Mayo Clinic Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures as its backers.
With the partnership and fresh capital infusion, Anuva will be generating new knowledge on health and disease, directly applicable to treatments on diverse under-represented populations to advance drug discovery through the identification of novel targets and pathways with the ultimate goal of providing better health.
Abhishek Kumar, director, Anuva said, “We are excited to partner with Helix as their expertise in genomics sequencing for large-scale populations, which together with our recent closure of Series A funding will allow us to accelerate our plans to create the most diverse genomic bio/data bank much quicker than ever before.”
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The new partnership will also enable the discovery of novel biological targets and pathways that inform the development of treatments and also identify who would benefit most from them.
“Anuva is doing great work to close the critical data diversity gap in genomics for drug discovery,” said Daniel Lee, senior vice-president, life sciences and growth at Helix. “We’re thrilled to be able to provide Anuva access to our whole exome assay as they enter their next stage of growth,” he added.