Digital Biotechnologies Inc., a new Seattle-based subsidiary of publicly traded immune medicine company Adaptive Biotechnologies, has raised fresh cash as part of an initial closing of a Series A investment round.
The round could total up to $15 million, according to a recent regulatory filing from Adaptive.
Digital Biotechnologies is developing DNA sequencing technology. A spokesperson for Adaptive said the startup is “adjacent” to Adaptive’s current strategic focus on immune medicine and Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) testing.
“We are proud to have supported their journey to date and look forward to seeing their continued progress in the coming years with this new financing in place,” the spokesperson said in a statement. Adaptive will own nearly half of the company when the latest funding round is completed.
Digital Biotechnologies works out of Adaptive’s headquarters in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood. The spokesperson declined to provide more details about the company’s leadership or website.
A recent job posting notes that Digital Biotechnologies is working on a “clinical sequencing instrument.” From the posting:
Present methods for high-throughput sequencing are not suitable for many clinical applications, as all current NGS platforms lack the combination of high accuracy, rapid turnaround time, and low cost that would lead to robust clinical utility. In collaboration with academic and industry scientists across the country, Digital Biotechnologies is engineering the first solid-state sequencer with the specifications necessary for a widely applicable clinical sequencing instrument.
The startup appears to leverage Adaptive’s immune medicine expertise and IP with a dedicated engineering and product organization focused on hardware.
Jason Bielas, a longtime professor at the University of Washington and leader at Fred Hutch Cancer Center, is a co-founder of Digital Biotechnologies. The company has a handful of other employees, according to LinkedIn.
Adaptive plans to consolidate the company’s financial results in its own earnings reports.
Founded in 2009 by brothers Chad and Harlan Robins, Adaptive develops immune system-related products for diagnosis and monitoring of cancer and other diseases. The company, which spun out of the Fred Hutch, went public in 2019.
Chad Robins still leads the company as CEO. Harlan Robins is chief scientific officer. Adaptive employs more than 600 people, according to LinkedIn.
Adaptive’s stock is up more than 120% over the past 12 months. Shares spiked more than 50% in November after the company topped third quarter expectations, reporting $94 million in overall revenue, fueled by growth in its MRD business.
Adaptive last month entered into two autoimmune-related agreements with Pfizer, including one focused on rheumatoid arthritis that could be worth up to $890 million.
The company agreed to terminate a deal with Genentech last year. That deal, originally announced in 2019, had $2 billion in potential value.
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