DNA sequencer Element Bio raises $277m to take on Illumina

Element Biosciences’ bid to claim a slice of a DNA sequencing technology market dominated by Illumina has been helped by an impressive $277 million financing round backed by a wide range of investors including electronics giant Samsung.

The funding will be used to support the commercial rollout of Element’s benchtop instrument for next-generation sequencing (NGS), Aviti, which is a competitor to Illumina technology, like its mid-range NextSeq 2000 sequencer, and the forthcoming launch of Aviti24 that combines sequencing and cell characteristic mapping in a single device.

Illumina is estimated to have around 80% of the global DNA sequencing market, with Element one of a new generation of rivals alongside the likes of PacBio and Singular Genomics, which launched their Onso and G4 instruments in 2022 and 2021, respectively.

Element’s Series D takes the total amount raised by the company to date to around $680 million, coming after a similarly impressive $276 million third round in mid-2021. The company was formed in 2017 with a backbone of ex-Illumina figures, but operated pretty much under the radar until making a splash with the launch of Aviti in 2022.

The company says its instruments offer a combination of high data quality, lower equipment and running costs, and improved flexibility over competitors.

Analysts, meanwhile, have suggested that the next couple of years will be critical as the new entrants try to eat into Illumina’s market share. However, they will do so at a time when the NGS market is growing at a phenomenal lick – with one analysis projecting it will more than triple from a value of around $8 billion in 2023 to over $31 billion in 2030.

Element said in its statement on the financing that 190 Aviti instruments are now installed at customers’ labs, up from 40 just a year ago.

The oversubscribed round was led by Wellington Management, with participation from new and existing investors, including Samsung Electronics, Fidelity, Foresite Capital, with funds and accounts advised by T Rowe Price Associates, and Venrock, among others.

“After a decade of an 800-pound gorilla dominating the ecosystem, it has been a privilege to help the exceptional Element team deliver customer-centric products that advance the quality, affordability, and democratisation of genomic analysis," commented Bryan Roberts, partner at Venrock and an early investor in Element, alongside Foresite’s Jim Tananbaum.

“We co-founded Element based on a simple belief that cutting-edge science should be available to the entire research community,” said Element’s chief executive, Molly He.

“Element has taken the first step to democratise sequencing and will continue helping the community uncover the secrets of biology with high-quality, flexible, rapidly iterative, and affordable tools that are accessible to more scientists,” she added.