A Growing Race to Change Status Quo in the Lucrative NGS Market
Element Biosciences has raised over $277 million in a Series D funding round to further develop and commercialize its DNA sequencing and multi-omics technologies. The oversubscribed round was led by Wellington Management and saw participation from new and existing investors, including Samsung Electronics, Fidelity, Foresite Capital, funds advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., and Venrock. This latest funding increases Element's total capital raised to over $680 million.
The new capital will support the expansion of Element Biosciences' global customer base and the advancement of its technological offerings. Central to these efforts is the AVITI™ benchtop DNA sequencer, which has been rapidly adopted since its release. Additionally, the company plans to launch AVITI24™, an instrument designed to integrate sequencing with cyto-profiling. This technology allows for the simultaneous examination of DNA, RNA, proteins, phosphoproteins, and cell structure within single cells, offering researchers comprehensive insights into biological systems.
Joshua Sommerfeld, healthcare sector lead at Wellington Management Private Investing, highlighted the unique benefits of Element's platform.
"Their platform combines quality, cost, and flexibility advantages that disrupt the incumbent price curve," he said. "By bringing end-to-end integrated multi-omic workflows onto a single system, Element has the potential to accelerate biological discovery."
Element Biosciences has carved out a notable position within a competitive industry. Jong-Hee (JH) Han, Vice Chairman and CEO of Samsung Electronics, noted the broader impact of Element’s technologies on precision medicine and artificial intelligence.
"Their products set a new industry standard and are foundational to the next wave of biological innovation," Han stated.
The Series D funding will bolster the commercialization of AVITI and facilitate the launch of AVITI24, enhancing researchers' ability to gain detailed biological insights. Element Biosciences has reported significant growth, with the number of AVITI installations increasing from approximately 40 to over 190 in the past year. The company's technologies are used in various industries, including academia, biotech, cancer research, and agricultural science, across more than 25 countries. Clients include Cerba Research, Cornell University, Garvan Institute, Revvity, Stowers Institute, and VIB.
The University of Minnesota Genomics Center (UMGC) has expanded its use of AVITI sequencers, with Director Dr. Kenny Beckman noting their performance and ease of integration.
"The AVITI is simple to operate, easy to integrate from a data perspective, and the quality of the output is higher than with our legacy NGS instruments," Beckman stated.
Element Biosciences aims to democratize access to advanced biological tools and it is a promising rival to the current market leader Illumina.
Competition in the NGS Space Heats Up: Companies to Watch in 2024
The next-generation sequencing (NGS) industry is entering an exciting phase, marked by a surge of innovations and competitive dynamics. Over the past three years, several companies have introduced groundbreaking sequencing technologies, challenging the long-standing dominance of Illumina. As we move through 2024, it will be fascinating to see how customers respond to these emerging alternatives.
Illumina, the established leader in the NGS market, continues to innovate despite a challenging 2023 that included significant leadership changes and business restructuring. The company’s NovaSeq X sequencing system, introduced in 2022, has seen substantial uptake, with 390 orders and 352 shipments in 2023 alone. CEO Jacob Thaysen emphasized the success of NovaSeq X, describing it as the company’s most successful high-throughput product launch. Despite reporting a net loss of $1.161 billion in 2023, Illumina remains focused on increasing revenue and expanding its instrument placements.
PacBio, another major player, introduced the Onso benchtop short-read sequencing platform in October 2022. Recently, PacBio launched the HiFi Prep Kit 96 and HiFi Plex Prep Kit 96, which streamline long-read sequencing workflows, reduce costs by 40%, and cut preparation time by 60%. These kits support running 1,536 samples in a single Revio run. PacBio’s revenue for 2023 surged by 56% to $200.521 million, though the company still reported a net loss of $306.735 million.
Singular Genomics, a relative newcomer, rolled out the G4 Sequencing Platform in late 2021 and recently upgraded it to the G4X™ Spatial Sequencer. This high-throughput platform supports simultaneous direct RNA sequencing, targeted transcriptomics, proteomics, and fluorescent analysis from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues. The new F4 Flow Cell aims to double the sequencer’s run output, providing 600 million to 800 million paired reads per flow cell.
MGI Tech, through its U.S. subsidiary Complete Genomics, has also made headlines. Eurofins Genomics ordered MGI’s DNBSEQ-T20×2 (T20) ultra-high throughput sequencer, which is designed to reduce sequencing costs to below $100 per genome. MGI Tech ended 2023 with a net loss of RMB 597.1 million, influenced by China's sluggish economy.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies introduced the PromethION 2 Integrated (P2i) device, facilitating real-time base calling and post-run analysis within the device itself. The company has achieved a record median simplex single molecule accuracy of Q28 (99.8%). Despite a net loss of £154.5 million in 2023, Oxford Nanopore saw underlying revenue grow by 39%, reaching £149.7 million.
Thermo Fisher Scientific continues to innovate within the NGS market under the Ion Torrent brand. The company launched new tools for preimplantation genetic testing-aneuploidy (PGT-A) and cancer testing. Thermo Fisher’s sequencing business, part of its Life Sciences Solutions segment, generated $9.977 billion of the company’s $42.86 billion revenue in 2023.
Ultima Genomics has introduced the UG 100 system, featuring an ultra-high-throughput sequencing architecture with an open silicon wafer and 24/7 run automation. The UG 100 aims to break the $100 genome barrier, offering high accuracy for various applications, including somatic and rare event detection. Ultima raised approximately $600 million upon emerging from stealth in 2022.
The sequencing industry also includes key providers of workflow solutions. Agilent Technologies focuses on sample preparation chemistries and quality control for NGS samples, with its genomics business valued at $500 million. QIAGEN’s Genomics/NGS business grew by 6% in 2023, reaching $239 million. Roche, investing significantly in sequencing, saw its Diagnostics Division generate CHF 14.1 billion ($16.1 billion) in revenue last year.
