54gene, a Nigerian health technology company announced on Thursday that it has closed a $25 million Series B financing round.
The round was led by Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund and included participation from Adjuvant Capital, KdT Ventures, Plexo Capital, Endeavor Capital, and Ingressive Capital.
54gene was founded in 2019 to gather genomic, phenotypic, and other data relevant to Africans to improve healthcare in this population. In 2020, the company raised $15 million in a Series A round, and this year it began pursuing research and pharmaceutical partnerships after having hit an initial milestone of 100,000 African participants for its biobank.
54gene said it will use the Series B funding to expand its sequencing, target identification, and target validation capabilities, as well as to run precision medicine clinical trials. The company said it will also use the money to expand its genomics and molecular diagnostics division across Africa.
“In this round, we have brought in partners that keep us true to our mission of equalizing healthcare and who can help us replicate our success throughout Africa,” 54gene CEO Abasi Ene-Obong said in a statement. “We believe the world will benefit from an African global drug discovery company that leverages the deep insights found in genomics research in diverse populations and ensures true equity for the African population.”
54gene is one of the few startups in the sector and even in Africa to have moved from seed stage to Series B in the space of two years.
