Codexis, Inc. and seqWell, Inc. announce the initiation of a strategic partnership and investment to accelerate the commercialisation of seqWell’s genomics workflow solutions.
Codexis, an enzyme engineering company in synthetic biology, and seqWell, a developer of products in genomic applications, plan to collaborate on using Codexis’ CodeEvolver platform technology for enzyme optimisation with seqWell’s growing portfolio of genomics workflow and library preparation products.
As part of this partnership, Codexis led seqWell’s $7 million Series C financing with a $5 million investment. Current investors Research Corporation Technologies (RCT) and BroadOak Capital Partners also participated in the Series C financing. This collaboration and investment enable seqWell to continue rapidly advancing its commercialisation of new and existing products in the fast-growing genomics and sequencing (NGS) library prep market.
seqWell’s plexWell platform is an NGS library preparation technology that enables simple, scalable multiplexing of hundreds to thousands of samples without the need for time- and cost-consuming sample preparation or library normalisation steps. Through this partnership, the technology will be matched with Codexis’ CodeEvolver platform for discovering and developing high performance enzymes and biotherapeutics. By harnessing optimised enzyme-based solutions, seqWell aims to transform the speed and accuracy of sequencing applications within the fast-growing genomics and NGS markets.
Dan Calvo, president and CEO at seqWell, said: “We are thrilled to have Codexis as a strategic investor. This partnership creates great synergy in our pursuit of development and commercialisation of innovative genomic tools to meet the demand for simplified, next-generation sequencing workflows that produce high quality results faster, with fewer steps required.”
Dr. Rob Wilson, SVP & general manager of Codexis’ Performance Enzymes business unit, who joins the seqWell Board with this partnership, commented: “Next generation sequencing is an important strategic market for Codexis, and one in which we have a clear opportunity to create differentiated enzyme-based products to revolutionise future sequencing applications. With its plexWell technology, seqWell has proven its ability to develop efficient, scalable, and user-friendly products in core NGS workflows.”
He added: “This investment amplifies Codexis’ strategic growth ambitions in the life science tools area and accelerates seqWell’s ability to bring exciting new products to market by leveraging Codexis’ enzyme engineering capabilities. I’m delighted to join the seqWell board and to work with the team as we continue to grow both organisations.”