Solexa raises $32.5 million

HAYWARD, Calif.—Solexa Inc. recently raised $32.5 million in private equity financing, the bulk of which will be used to fund further development and commercialization of a synthesis-by-sequencing (SBS) molecular array platform for genetic analysis. If all goes according to plan, the company will introduce its first commercial SBS instrument by the end of this year, a product, company officials say, will be able to ascertain a human genome sequence for roughly $100,000.

The financing follows on the recent merger of Solexa with instrumentation maker Lynx Therapeutics, a deal that was completed in early March. "Solexa had a novel technology for sequencing, which it spent five years developing," explains Linda Rubenstein, Solexa CFO. "What the combination with Lynx did was bring us a company that has put together multiple generations of instruments for genetic analysis which, was needed for the Solexa technology."