3 ms·

Completely agree. A lot of the big VCs are investing in the fundamental biology side of it. However, there is so much room for advancements in the equipment, ge

by rfc 9y ago

Completely agree. A lot of the big VCs are investing in the fundamental biology side of it. However, there is so much room for advancements in the equipment, gene panels, automation, lab analytics, etc. As an example, we just bought a device called an Eppendorf EpMotion 5075. It costs around $20k and looks like it was something I would have built in high school. Exposed wires, slow, insanely expensive parts. Worst of all: there's no API for us to programmatically connect it with other devices in the lab, such as a DNA extractor. You also hit the nail on the head with the investment mentality. Know enough to be dangerous. Ask "why" to learn more about the problems. And (IMO) most importantly, realize that you don't have to put down $1M as a seed. You'd be shocked at the ROI on just even $50k...

aaavl2821 9y ago
Out of curiosity, what's your business model and customer base? Do you offer sequencing as a service, have proprietary analytics / software, other lab services, experimental design, etc?
- rfc 9y ago
  We're an all-inclusive service provider (currently), meaning that researchers simply send their samples in and get insights back. We take care of the DNA extraction, sample QC, library prep, sequencing, bioinformatics, and data storage. There are a couple clients of ours that we're testing our sequencing as a service where we generate monthly contracts and they get the exact same service, protocols, etc. in record turnaround time. Client base includes companies like Children's National Hospital, UCSD, Pfizer, USDA. Nothing proprietary just yet (except it being really hard) but we're using profits from services revenue to develop IP-driven gene pipelines and informations. Basically specific gene panels and software paired together. We're one of 2 commercial companies in the country offering HLA-Typing which is the same integrated pipeline as described above. Additionally, we're passively starting to develop high resolution data sets to ingest into a database at some point around specific novel variants, such as HLA Typing, to accelerate research The end goal is to virtualize the entire lab so that anyone can start research, whether academic of pharmaceutical, from a home office. This means building a software layer that allows them to directly create, design, and implement protocols that interface with the equipment in the lab. So instead of building a $1M lab, you just log in online and run your experiments. You can think of it as what AWS did to the data center.
  - aaavl2821 9y ago
    Very cool, i work with a lot of CROs but haven't had a need for genomics sequencing yet. In small biotech companies we rely exclusively on these firms as we don't have our own labs, or if so, dont have a genomics core. There has been an explosion in biotech startups using genomics so would imagine there's a lot of demand for this, and you can make good margins if you are a quality and differentiated service provider. I realize you probably already know this but in the spirit of informing people about bio investing figured I'd share :) Are you in San Diego by chance (just guessing bc UCSD)? I work with a virtual biotech there and we contract out all of our r&d. We don't do genomics but some of our investors have other portfolio companies that might be interested in your services
    - rfc 9y ago
      We're located in Colorado actually. Low rent makes for cheaper rates for our customers. What's ironic is that even though UCSD has one of the premier genomics cores in the world, their lead time and prices are astronomical. We converted an entire UCSD department from their facility to ours by simply improving speed, price, and turnaround. We're finding that the big facilities have so much overhead that they can ONLY focus on big projects, leaving a huge gap in the market for the smaller guys. If they're interested, we're happy to have conversations. Our website is: https://www.thesequencingcenter.com https://www.thesequencingcenter.com We're always looking to connect with other folks who are just annoyed with the general way things are operating.
      - aaavl2821 9y ago
        Awesome, thanks for passing along. We face a lot of issues with lead time for non-genomics applications and if our CRO doesn't have a piece of equipment and we dont have an "in" at ucsd / stanford / berkeley etc, we wait in line. sometimes for months... will pass your info along, thanks!

by rfc 9y ago

aaavl2821 9y ago

Out of curiosity, what's your business model and customer base? Do you offer sequencing as a service, have proprietary analytics / software, other lab services, experimental design, etc?

rfc 9y ago
We're an all-inclusive service provider (currently), meaning that researchers simply send their samples in and get insights back. We take care of the DNA extraction, sample QC, library prep, sequencing, bioinformatics, and data storage. There are a couple clients of ours that we're testing our sequencing as a service where we generate monthly contracts and they get the exact same service, protocols, etc. in record turnaround time. Client base includes companies like Children's National Hospital, UCSD, Pfizer, USDA. Nothing proprietary just yet (except it being really hard) but we're using profits from services revenue to develop IP-driven gene pipelines and informations. Basically specific gene panels and software paired together. We're one of 2 commercial companies in the country offering HLA-Typing which is the same integrated pipeline as described above. Additionally, we're passively starting to develop high resolution data sets to ingest into a database at some point around specific novel variants, such as HLA Typing, to accelerate research The end goal is to virtualize the entire lab so that anyone can start research, whether academic of pharmaceutical, from a home office. This means building a software layer that allows them to directly create, design, and implement protocols that interface with the equipment in the lab. So instead of building a $1M lab, you just log in online and run your experiments. You can think of it as what AWS did to the data center.
- aaavl2821 9y ago
  Very cool, i work with a lot of CROs but haven't had a need for genomics sequencing yet. In small biotech companies we rely exclusively on these firms as we don't have our own labs, or if so, dont have a genomics core. There has been an explosion in biotech startups using genomics so would imagine there's a lot of demand for this, and you can make good margins if you are a quality and differentiated service provider. I realize you probably already know this but in the spirit of informing people about bio investing figured I'd share :) Are you in San Diego by chance (just guessing bc UCSD)? I work with a virtual biotech there and we contract out all of our r&d. We don't do genomics but some of our investors have other portfolio companies that might be interested in your services
  - rfc 9y ago
    We're located in Colorado actually. Low rent makes for cheaper rates for our customers. What's ironic is that even though UCSD has one of the premier genomics cores in the world, their lead time and prices are astronomical. We converted an entire UCSD department from their facility to ours by simply improving speed, price, and turnaround. We're finding that the big facilities have so much overhead that they can ONLY focus on big projects, leaving a huge gap in the market for the smaller guys. If they're interested, we're happy to have conversations. Our website is: https://www.thesequencingcenter.com https://www.thesequencingcenter.com We're always looking to connect with other folks who are just annoyed with the general way things are operating.
    - aaavl2821 9y ago
      Awesome, thanks for passing along. We face a lot of issues with lead time for non-genomics applications and if our CRO doesn't have a piece of equipment and we dont have an "in" at ucsd / stanford / berkeley etc, we wait in line. sometimes for months... will pass your info along, thanks!