Friday, January 6, 2017

Illumina Spinout Plans To Raise $1 Billion In Series B

San Diego-based life sciences equipment maker Illumina says that its cancer detection spinout, GRAIL, is now expecting to raise approximately $1 billion in its Series B funding. GRAIL, which was founded by Illumina, is developing blood tests for early stage cancer detection. Names of the investors in the $1 billion funding round were not announced. Illumina has selected Goldman Sachs as the placement agent for the big fundraising round. GRAIL raised $100 million in Series A financing in 2016, from Illumina, ARCH Venture Partners, Bezos Expeditions, Bill Gates, Sutter Hill Ventures, and GV (formerly Google Ventures).