Whole Biome Secures $35 Million in Series B Financing for Expansion of its Microbiome Discovery Platform and Commercialization of its First Product
SAN FRANCISCO, May 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Whole Biome, an evidence-based microbiome company, today announced that it has secured $35 million in Series B financing. The round was led by existing investor Sequoia Capital with repeat participation from True Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Mayo Foundation, AME Cloud Ventures and others. This brings the company's total funding to $57 million. Sequoia Partner Roelof Botha has joined the company's board of directors.
Whole Biome is developing a range of microbiome interventions targeting a variety of human health issues, starting with metabolic diseases, to help improve human health and wellbeing. The company will use the new funds to advance the commercialization of its first patented product, expand its discovery pipeline and scale clinical trials for their novel microbiome interventions.
"We're at a unique point in time as the field of microbiome biology converges with enabling cutting-edge technologies and bioinformatics that will open up a whole new world of innovative health products," said Colleen Cutcliffe, Whole Biome's co-founder and chief executive officer. "With our robust microbiology, biochemistry, computational and clinical expertise, we are able to unlock the complexity of the microbiome to identify specific mechanisms of actions to help naturally restore and improve one's health."
Whole Biome has built a proprietary microbiome discovery platform that identifies novel biochemical pathways and validates their potential for improving human health. The company's products are developed by applying scientific and clinical rigor to identify, hypothesize, test and measure novel strains and microbiome interventions.
"Whole Biome is creating novel, disease-targeting microbiome interventions that have the potential to improve the course of many of the significant health issues facing people today," said Roelof Botha, partner at Sequoia. "They have built an integrated approach and a multi-disciplinary team across research, development and commercialization to unlock complex microbiome biology and create products with both clinical efficacy and unparalleled safety."
The company plans to launch its first product for the dietary management of Type 2 Diabetes in early 2020. Whole Biome has conducted double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trials of its product that demonstrated significant reductions in HbA1c levels and blood glucose spikes without any product-related side effects.
"Whole Biome is taking a data-driven approach to demonstrate the role of the microbiome in the management of Type 2 Diabetes," said Robert Ratner, professor of medicine in the division of endocrinology and metabolism at Georgetown University School of Medicine and former chief scientific and medical officer for the American Diabetes Association. "Such clinical rigor behind product development will be critical in this promising new space."
About Whole Biome
Whole Biome is an evidence-based microbiome company that is revolutionizing medicine by developing novel Live SynbioticsTM (combinations of bacterial strains and prebiotics), which target specific health conditions and provide the body the ability to naturally restore and improve one's health. The company has built a proprietary microbiome discovery platform and development approach that are enabling the identification of underlying microbiome mechanisms of action. This allows the company to develop a range of microbiome interventions for a variety of conditions, starting with metabolic diseases, to help improve patient health and wellbeing. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, Whole Biome is comprised of seasoned executives and a team with deep microbiology, biochemistry, computational, clinical and commercialization expertise. For more information, please visit www.wholebiome.com.
About Sequoia
From idea to IPO and beyond, the Sequoia team helps a small number of daring founders build legendary companies. We spur them to push the boundaries of what's possible. In partnering with Sequoia, companies benefit from our unmatched network and the lessons we've learned over 45 years working with Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, John Morgridge, Jerry Yang, Elon Musk, Larry Page, Jan Koum, Brian Chesky, Drew Houston, Adi Tatarko and Jack Dorsey, among many others. In aggregate, Sequoia-backed companies account for more than 20% of NASDAQ's total value. We're proud that their success also fuels great causes. The vast majority of money we invest is on behalf of non-profits and schools like the Ford Foundation, Mayo Clinic and MIT, which means that the returns generated from the incredible achievements of founders can make a massive difference.
SOURCE Whole Biome
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