News

University of Michigan Startup, Genomenon, Raises $20M Series B Financing

7/22/2022

On March 10, 2022, University of Michigan startup Genomenon Inc., an AI-driven genomics data company, announced the completion of a $20 million Series B financing round led by Farmington Hills-based Beringea. Genomenon leverages AI to organize the world’s genomic knowledge to help doctors and clinicians more accurately diagnose patients with rare and genetic disease and cancer, and to help researchers better target precision medicines at molecular drivers of disease.

The funds will be used to expand the company’s commercial operations and the development of its genomic data hub, which serves genetic testing labs, hospitals, pharmaceutical, and biopharma companies. To date, Genomenon has raised a total of $35 million from investors and grants.

“Coming on the heels of a successful 2021 where the company once again more than doubled its revenue and customer base, Genomenon will use the new funds to grow its commercial team to reach new customers around the world,” says Mike Klein, Genomenon CEO and former Mentor-in-Residence with Innovation Partnerships at U-M. “Our AI-driven technology enables genomic insights to support clinicians in patient diagnosis and scientists developing precision medicines.”

The company’s Mastermind^® Genomic Search Engine is used by more than 2,000 genetic testing labs and hospitals worldwide to provide clinical insight into the scientific literature on genomic data.

Mastermind uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to index millions of scientific journal articles and medical publications for genomic associations; with the goals of providing faster insights to drastically reduce the time pathologists and geneticists spend examining medical data.

Klein explains that the software uses algorithms to comb through the entire corpus of medical literature and determine the relationship between specific diseases and gene mutations. Mastermind then organizes the data into clinical categories prioritized by the strength of those relationships.

Genomenon’s Prodigy™ Genomic Landscapes are used by top pharma and biopharma companies to deepen understanding of the genetic drivers and clinical attributes of any genetic disease, from rare disorder to cancer. These datasets enable pharma companies to accelerate target discovery, identify genetic biomarkers for clinical trial stratification, and develop companion diagnostics for regulatory approval.

A comprehensive understanding of genomics is essential to advancing precision medicine, and Genomenon uniquely meets that need in ways that have led to quick adoption in the market. The company makes Mastermind freely available to a broad range of scientists, academics, and clinicians. Its user base of over 20,000 extends to more than 140 countries.

“As proliferation of sequencing drives exponential growth in the new frontier of genomics-informed precision medicine, Genomenon’s AI-driven technology platform is the ideal solution to bring life-changing therapies to patients while enabling Pharma to more efficiently discover and develop new targeted therapies,” says Michael Gross, managing director at Beringea. “We are excited to partner with Genomenon’s world-class management team to continue to drive industry-wide adoption of this transformational platform.”