Sophia Genetics Raises Series B Round led by Invoke Capital

LONDON and LAUSANNE, Switzerland, July 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Investment Aims to Accelerate European Adoption of Clinical Analytics for Genetic Diseases 

Sophia Genetics, the European leader in Data-Driven Medicine, has raised $13.75M in Series B financing in a round led by Dr Mike Lynch's Invoke Capital, Swisscom and Endeavour Vision.

Sophia Genetics is a pioneer in Data-Driven Medicine, a crossover field that requires deep expertise in Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), combined with highly accurate and scalable predictive algorithms to diagnose genetic diseases. With this investment, Sophia gains access to Invoke's portfolio company Genalys, whose Cambridge-based mathematicians apply big data approaches to genomic information. The combination means that clinicians and hospitals across Europe gain access to very accurate clinical analytics service for early diagnosis and optimized treatment of cancer and genetic diseases.

Patients can have their DNA and their cancer tumour DNA sequenced faster and cheaper than ever, which means that an individual's disease can be understood in ways that were impossible a few years ago.  Dr Mike Lynch said, "The challenge now lies in the analysis, interpretation and protection of the massive amounts of sequence data generated by this new technology. In short, a key part of this is a Big Data analysis problem and I believe that Sophia and Genalys's sophisticated algorithms can provide the clinical accuracy that is required to provide meaningful, targeted therapies."

Until recently, only researchers had access to the kind of information that Sophia Genetics now puts in the hands of clinicians by providing them with European-certified quality assurance in accuracy, reliability, reproducibility and privacy. Sophia Genetics patent pending genomic privacy approach combined with Invoke's own expertise in securing patient data means that Sophia Genetics is ahead of its peers and fully compliant with stringent European Data Privacy Laws.

Sophia Genetics has a trio of co-founders who are recognized experts in the field of genetics, bioinformatics and molecular biology and they have built a team of highly qualified PhDs from the top 10 Universities in the world. In just three years, Sophia Genetics has developed bioinformatics pipelines and visualization tools for more than 70 commercial panels, proprietary custom panels and is extending that capability to whole exomes and genomes. The company obtains CE-IVD marking for each supported pipeline and has received ISO 13485 certification.

"Medicine is changing and I am proud of all the work Sophia Genetics is doing to improve diagnosis and treatment of diseases. This new funding will allow us to move faster into European markets. Invoke Capital in particular, provides a degree of expertise in data security in cloud and in scalability that will strengthen our genetic sequencing data banking offering immediately," said Jurgi Camblong, CEO of Sophia Genetics.

Notes to Editors 

About Sophia Genetics 

Sophia Genetics has a fundamental new approach to the credible development and clinical adoption of Data Driven Medicine, pragmatically focused on achieving best patient outcomes while securing patients' personal genomic data. Its software as a service (SaaS) offering, dropGen,™ covers the bioinformatic analysis protocol, the validation and quality control process, the presentation of results of genetic tests to clinicians and the protection of patient DNA sequence data through safe storage and banking. http://www.sophiagenetics.com

About Invoke Capital  

Invoke Capital Partners was founded by Dr Mike Lynch, members of the senior management team from Autonomy, and a group of technology experts, with access to $1bn in capital. Invoke is focused on maximizing the potential of European fundamental technology by using its unique expertise and repositioning experience to rapidly scale them across multiple markets. It is the only investment team in Europe with a dedicated, in-house R&D division, based in Cambridge, UK. The Invoke team has grown multiple technology businesses with particular expertise and experience in science and technology allowing them to identify and develop core technologies in areas including genomics, security, pattern recognition, signal processing and big data. http://www.invokecapital.com 

About Endeavour Vision 

Endeavour Vision combines a team of experienced venture capital professionals who have collectively invested in over 80 companies in 12 countries in both the Life Sciences and Information/Communication Technology sectors for the last 20 years. The firm invests in early and late stage companies which have the potential to become global leaders. For more information, please visit http://www.endeavourvision.com

Media Contacts

Vanessa Colomar
Invoke Capital
+44-7814445620
press@invokecapital.com

Andy Rivett-Carnac
Brunswick
+44(0)20-7936-1365
Arivett-carnac@brunswickgroup.com