DNA Script raises $165M Series C for DNA printing platform

[Image from DNA Script]

DNA Script announced today that it raised $165 million in a Series C financing round, bringing its total capital raised to $280 million.

South San Francisco-based DNA Script earmarked the funds raised to accelerate expansion and commercialization for the company’s Syntax benchtop nucleic acid printer and to broaden its portfolio of products powered by enzymatic DNA synthesis (EDS) technology, according to a news release.

In June, the company launched Syntax, a fully integrated, automated printer powered by EDS technology. The company designed the DNA printer to synthesize 96 DNA oligos in parallel, comprised of up to 60 nucleotides in length and delivers them ready for use in molecular biology and genomics workflows without the need for additional handling.

“DNA Script believes that the next industrial revolution will be driven by life science and biology, and we started the company with a vision to accelerate that bio-revolution, to drive life science breakthroughs by giving researchers same-day DNA access and control via EDS. Toward that end we launched the first instrument on the Syntax platform earlier this year. The tremendous support we’ve received from the investment community validates our vision and will fuel our portfolio of continued innovation,” DNA Script Co-Founder & CEO Thomas Ybert said in the release. “We’re excited to have such a strong syndicate of long-term investors that will help us grow the company, as we plan to aggressively expand the company by hiring over a hundred personnel. This expansion of talent and resources will enable us to execute on EDS technology’s promise and our ambitious goals to drive DNA-on-demand further on the path to revolutionize life science research as well as personalized medicine.”

Coatue Management and Catalio Capital Management led the funding round and representatives from those companies have subsequently joined as board observers at DNA Script.

New investors Fidelity Management & Research, Columbia Threadneedle Investments, Arrowmark Partners, Farallon Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures joined existing investors Casdin Capital, LSP, Illumina Ventures, Bpifrance Large Venture Fund, Danaher Life Sciences, Agilent Technologies, M Ventures, Kurma Partners and Alexandria Venture Investments.

“As we have seen with the success of COVID mRNA vaccines, we believe the next wave of life sciences will be an engineering and technology-based approach. We think DNA Script has changed the landscape with Syntax by replacing chemical processes with a plug-and-play technology that custom prints DNA on your lab bench,” Coatue Management Managing Director Aaron Weiner said. “We believe DNA printers have the potential to become as ubiquitous as sequencers and microscopes.”