NEW YORK– Today Opentrons Labworks Inc. has announced SoftBank Vision Fund 2* has led the company’s $200 million Series C investment with participation by Khosla Ventures. Opentrons will use this fundraising round to further invest in its automated lab platform globally.
“Biology opens the door to solve many of humanity’s grand challenges. For far too long, scientists and clinicians have been locked-in by slow, expensive, and overly complex lab solutions that underpin their work,” said Jon Brennan-Badal, CEO of Opentrons. “Opentrons’ platform provides the key to unlock their potential. We are enabling more R&D, more testing, more biology to unleash innovation in life sciences and healthcare.”
The lab platform uniquely integrates the development of lab robotics, assays, and operations to create high-quality and cost-effective end solutions. Opentrons uses this platform to provide the following industry-specific lab solutions:
- Diagnostic lab services for health systems: with the Pandemic Response Lab subsidiary, the company uses the platform for its own subsidiary laboratories that provide highly affordable and high-throughput molecular diagnostic testing. These testing lab services have been used by hospitals and health systems for over 4.5 million patient tests across the US in the past year.
- Lab automation robotics for life science R&D: with the Opentrons Robotics business unit, the company sells affordable lab robotics to help life science R&D labs automate their operations. Opentrons’ flagship OT-2 robot is used by thousands of research organizations in more than 40 countries. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, OT-2 robots were deployed to hospital labs around the world to test millions of patient samples.
- Genome-scale cell engineering for biopharma: with the Neochromosome subsidiary, the company developed and deployed its biofoundry, uniquely capable of synthesizing genome-scale DNA constructs at unprecedented throughput. Leveraging the collaboration of recent acquisition, Zenith AI, the company is creating transformative solutions for the discovery, development, and biomanufacturing of therapeutics.
“Opentrons is building a disruptive automated lab platform that is aiming to transform healthcare and life sciences with a vertically integrated, low-cost solution,” said Angela Du, Investment Director at SoftBank Investment Advisers. “The company has an extremely high value proposition in the lab diagnostics and synthetic genomics markets where its robotics and consumables serve as foundational components today. We look forward to partnering with CEO Jonathan Brennan-Badal to help the company accelerate growth and commercialize new offerings.”
The Series C round will enable significant investment in the Opentrons platform. In particular, the investment will support development of new robotic tools, an expanded biofoundry, new diagnostic tests, and additional diagnostic labs. All of these initiatives will drive better, more affordable solutions for our life science and healthcare customers.
