Appoints Frederik Decouttere as CEO
Alithea Genomics, an emerging leader in the field of large-scale RNA sequencing and transcriptomics, announced today the closing of its seed financing round with an additional CHF 3 million ($3.9 million), led by Genku Ventures and joined by Novalis Biotech and Zürcher Kantonalbank as well as several private investors. This additional funding brings the total seed round to CHF 6.9 million ($8.9 million). The proceeds will be used primarily to accelerate commercialization of its new 1536-well MERCURIUSTM DRUG-seq kits unlocking greater potential of using cell transcriptomics in primary drug screening and exploratory toxicology. These applications, previously out of reach due to cost and throughput constraints, can now be addressed by scaling 3'RNA-seq library preparation to 1,536 samples. Alithea will also invest the proceeds in accelerating new technology development and building proprietary transcriptomic data assets to fuel the industry's AI/ML initiatives.
"Alithea's technology has reached a level of scalability and data quality that fundamentally changes what is possible in transcriptomics. This is not incremental progress it is a step-change that unlocks industrial-scale biology for drug discovery, toxicology, and AI-driven research. Our additional investment reflects our conviction that Alithea is becoming the data engine enabling the next generation of therapeutics and predictive biological models," said Jan Van den Berghe, Lead Investor, Novalis Biotech.
Concurrent with the funding, current Chairman, Frederik Decouttere, will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) while Riccardo Dainese, co-founder and current CEO, will now focus fully on commercial and business development as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). Board member, Kaspar Binz, will take over the role of Chairman at Alithea.
"As Alithea continues to innovate, expanding product commercialization with new innovative RNA sample prep kits to disrupt the genomic research sector, we have transitioned my operational role to CEO, enabling Riccardo to fully focus on commercial and business development, ensuring we meet the needs of our customers," said Mr. Decouttere. "This new funding will enable Alithea to unlock the full potential of our unique RNA-based technology platforms to a scale and price point that are unique to our industry. In a world where the impact of AI becomes more visible every single day and where high quality data is key to further improve AI models, Alithea's RNA-seq platforms are set to accelerate our customer's research, toxicology and screening projects significantly. We'd like to thank all of our investors for their continued support and confidence in Alithea."
Alithea commercializes massively multiplexed library preparation solutions for RNA sequencing, most notably BRB-seq and DRUG-seq. These technologies enable the preparation of up to 1,536 RNA samples for sequencing in a single tube and, in the case of DRUG-seq, without the need for RNA isolation. Traditional preparation of samples for RNA sequencing is expensive and time consuming, due to the large amounts of reagents and manual operations that are typically required. Alithea's RNA-seq platforms drastically decrease the cost, time and resource consumption associated with RNA sequencing preparation.
About RNA Sequencing
RNA sequencing examines the quantity and sequences of RNA in a biological sample using next-generation sequencing (NGS). This data specifies which of the genes encoded in DNA are turned on or off, and to what extent, e.g., in a diseased cell or in response to a drug or different environmental conditions. This improved understanding of cellular biology can help guide decisions in multiple key steps of the drug discovery and development process.
About Alithea Genomics
Alithea Genomics is committed to developing solutions that simplify and streamline the generation of "big RNA data", which we believe will constitute the foundation of tomorrow's research and medicine. Our RNA-seq technologies and kits enable researchers to discover novel biomarkers and essential data needed to develop new drugs at a fraction of the traditional cost and time. Alithea Genomics was founded in May 2020 at the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland.
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Contacts:
Alithea Genomics
Riccardo Dainese
media@alitheagenomics.com
Halsin Partners
Mike Sinclair
msinclair@halsin.com
