HOUSTON—Five-year-old sequencing company VisiGen Biotechnologies got a big shot in the arm recently with an equity investment and collaboration deal with Applied Biosystems Group. Concurrent with the Applied Bio deal, VisiGen also secured additional capital from its current investor DNA technology services company SeqWright Inc. Exact figures of the investements were not released.
"We think the investment from Applied Biosystems and SeqWright's second investment are a strong vote of confidence in the technology we are developing and the path of company," says D. Susan Hardin, co-founder and CEO of VisiGen.
For Applied Bio, the decision to invest in the company was two-fold: first, the company is actively looking for early-stage companies that are developing gene sequencing technologies as a means to bolster its own research in the area; and, second, VisiGen's technology is focused on single molecule sequencing.
"We have been impressed by the significant progress VisiGen has made with relatively limited resources," says Philippe Nore, senior director of strategic planning with Applied Bio. "We are strong believers that this technology will ultimately deliver the best aternative. Cluster sequencing may be a bit ahead right now, but we are willing to wait the extra time for what we believe will be a better technology in the long term."
