Cambridge startup snags $11 million to fast-track genetic disease research

Cambridge-based Sano Genetics has raised $11 million funding to build patient-friendly tech. The Series A funding round was led by MMC Ventures, with further funding from Episode 1, Seedcamp and several experienced operators in software and life sciences, including Paul Forster, co-founder and former CEO of Indeed, Paul Wicks, former VP of innovation at PatientsLikeMe, and Margo Georgiadis, former CEO of Ancestry.com.

This latest round of funding will be utilised to grow its team in the U.S. and Europe, and develop its platform to meet demand in over 50 diseases and over 6 countries by mid-2023.

Drug development takes 10-15 years and many medicines never make it out of R&D because recruitment is painful, participant dropout rates are high and costs are prohibitive.

Attempting to change this, the company has developed a software platform that connects patients living with rare and chronic conditions such as Long Covid, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, directly with biotech and pharma companies leading personalised medicine research. Betting big on a market worth $52.4 billion in 2020 and predicted to reach $112.8 billion by 2027, it also offers biotech and pharma clients the ability to power branded portals for participant recruitment and engagement.

The startup had earlier raised £3 million in seed funding to develop its platform and bring in customers and partners, including precision medicine developers BenevolentAI, ESCAPE Bio, and population-scale cohorts such as the NIHR BioResource.

Dr Patrick Short, CEO and co-founder of Sano Genetics, said: “It still takes 10 to 15 years for new drugs to reach patients, and many will never make it out of R&D because costs are prohibitive. This funding takes us closer to our mission to build the platform that we, and many others – patients and researchers – wish was available a decade ago. One that will make research much faster, more cost-effective, and a vastly better experience for patients.”

Charlotte Barttelot, investor at MMC Ventures, added: “There is an urgent need to solve the largest problems in clinical trials: patient recruitment and engagement. This is where Sano’s innovative software platform, which allows them to interact directly with patients, biotech and broader healthcare communities, can be transformational for the future of personalised medicine.”