Company completes Series D funding and adds two new directors to board
(ANN ARBOR, Mich. – June 29, 2017) Swift Biosciences, a leading provider of innovative library prep solutions for genomic sequencing, today announced the completion of a Series D funding raise of $12.2 million. The company also announced the addition of two new directors to its board, positioning the company for accelerated growth.
Funding for Growth
The Series D round was led by Arboretum Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with follow-on investment from existing Swift investors. The funding will help fuel growth by expanding the company’s global commercial channels and enhancing its manufacturing and operational capabilities.
Aimed at revolutionizing basic and clinical research, Swift’s novel Accel-NGS® technologies accelerate the discovery, identification and characterization of genes and the underlying genetic variation in diseases of the genome. Swift’s unique approaches enhance existing next-generation sequencing (NGS) platforms by providing the ability to sequence challenging and low-input biological samples, including DNA derived from archived tumors and liquid biopsies.
“This is an exciting time for Swift as we expand our commercial and manufacturing teams to meet the growing demand for our products,” said Timothy Harkins, president and CEO of Swift Biosciences. “Swift’s products have been one step ahead of the market, positioned to enable the new applications coming from low-input samples, like detecting tumor variants in liquid biopsies.”
Expanding the Board of Directors
Swift also announced the appointment of Dan Kidle and Mark Lewis to the company’s board of directors. These two appointments expand the board to seven members. Kidle has been elected as chairman of the board.
Kidle, a principal at Arboretum Ventures, joined the board concurrent with Arboretum’s Series D investment in Swift.
“I’m excited by the use of genomic sequencing data to fuel the discovery of disease biomarkers,” said Kidle. “Few companies are challenging the status quo to make next-generation sequencing more accessible to the basic and clinical research community in the same innovative way as Swift.”
Lewis brings over 40 years of global experience in the life sciences industry. He has held research and development, commercial and general management roles at leading organizations including BD Biosciences, Molecular Dynamics, Nycomed-Amersham and Beckman Instruments. Most recently, Lewis held senior vice president roles at Illumina in customer support, general management and product development, where he led the development of the HiSeq® and MiSeq® sequencing platforms.
“With this latest round of funding, an experienced management team, high quality manufacturing, unique technologies, intellectual property and products, Swift has everything in place to transform the way scientists are approaching NGS-based studies,” said Lewis.
About Swift Biosciences
Swift Biosciences is the NGS Library Prep company. Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the company develops novel library preparation solutions for emerging applications based on next-generation sequencing, including whole genome sequencing, targeted DNA sequencing and epigenetic analysis. Swift Biosciences’ products are designed to help customers analyze challenging biological samples faster, easier, and with greater sensitivity and accuracy, while being compatible with leading instrumentation. Swift Biosciences is the first company to offer library preparation solutions on all three major sequencing platforms, including Pacific Biosciences®, Illumina® and Ion Torrent™.
The company opened its doors in February 2010, and its product development enables new applications in multiple industries, including agrigenomics, pharmaceutical, academic, biotechnology and oncology research fields.
For more information, follow Swift Biosciences on Twitter @SwiftBioSci.
About Arboretum Ventures
Arboretum Ventures is a venture capital firm specializing in the healthcare sector. Founded in 2002 and located in Ann Arbor, the firm manages $450 million in capital and has invested in more than 40 companies. Arboretum focuses on medical device, diagnostic, healthcare IT, and healthcare service companies that can achieve significant milestones and value creation in a capital-efficient manner. More than simply a financial resource, Arboretum is a collaborative, value-added investor actively engaging our portfolio companies in strategy, operations, recruiting, fundraising, and exit planning. Arboretum’s guiding vision is to identify transformative healthcare companies that are developing improved and less costly solutions that address significant healthcare problems.
For more information, please visit http://www.arboretumvc.com/