Color, a provider of end-to-end technology and software platform for large-scale genomics programs, announced a $167 million Series D financing round at a $1.5 billion valuation. The round was led by General Catalyst and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, with participation from Viking Global Investors and others.
Including the latest financing round, Color has raised $278 million to date.
The company plans to use the new funds to expand its work building public health technology and infrastructure for governments, employers, and other institutions that serve large populations.
Color was founded in 2015 with a focus on genetics testing. The company’s genome sequencing software platform generates sequence data with three primary goals:
- Clinical-grade sequencing for clinically actionable genes
- Population-agnostic sequencing for statistical genetics
- Raw sequencing data for the desired option-value on future research or commercial applications
The company uses genetic data to advise patients about inherited health risks and connects them to health counselors to help them respond to those risks. In contrast to retail services like 23andMe, Color works directly with employers, unions, and governments to provide services to constituents. Clients include the City of San Francisco, the Teamsters Union, the National Institutes of Health, Salesforce, California, and United Airlines.
Color works with health systems, employers, researchers, physicians, and national health initiatives worldwide to drive positive health outcomes, providing them with technology and infrastructure to power large-scale health initiatives. For example, the company provides genetic testing results for genes associated with an increased risk for common hereditary cancers and hereditary high cholesterol. It also participates in research collaborations to aid discoveries in genetics and disease.
“We are building the rails for a national technology-based public health infrastructure,” said Color CEO Othman Laraki.
“The inability to deliver basic healthcare services during the biggest health crisis of our lifetime is a direct consequence of the lack of a public health delivery model. Public health does not only mean a government-funded model. A modern public health infrastructure should enable all of the stakeholders in the health of large populations – including governments, employers, and schools – to support the essential health needs of the people they serve. By investing in the technology that ensures easy and affordable access to healthcare, we’re creating the infrastructure that will serve us for decades to come.”
Genomics data analytics companies raised over $1.2 billion in the past three years, according to Mercom funding data. DNAnexus, cloud-based genome informatics, and data management software platform, closed a $100 million in Series G funding round.
