Illumina Welcomes New Startups To Its Accelerator Program
By Bio-IT World Staff
February 10, 2017 | Illumina Accelerator announced today that it has chosen three new startups to join its accelerator program, which provides investment capital and other resources to early-stage companies developing new genomic technologies and applications.
The three startups are:
- Coax Biosystems, Inc. – A synthetic ecology company using a proprietary platform to understand and engineer microbial community products, with first applications in improving crop protection and yield.
- Resilient Biotics, Inc. – A microbiome therapeutics company using genomic technologies and intelligent analytics to develop antibiotic replacements for complex infectious diseases.
- Haystack Sciences Corporation – A small molecule discovery company developing a proprietary platform to discover novel treatments for human disease.
Illumina launched the accelerator program in early 2014, selecting Encoded Genomics, EpiBiome, and Xcell Biosciences as its first investments later that year. Other companies that have been selected in subsequent investment rounds include PathoGn, Biome Makers, and Urology Diagnostics in the second round; and MetaMixis, NextGen Jane, Skinomics, and Vitagene in the third. In August, Illumina also named the Center of Individualized Diagnostic in Saudi Arabia as the first international fellow of the program.
The Illumina Accelerator program offers sixth-month funding in which they offer capital and access to capital, sequencing and genomics expertise, coaching, and lab and office space in the San Francisco Bay Area.
"Over the six months we try to check all the boxes in building a startup, from how to build a team, to how to develop a go-to-market strategy, to how to find and secure partnerships, networking, and fundraising," Amanda Cashin, co-founder and head of Illumina Accelerator, said in a statement. "We're proud to have these three promising companies join our growing network of genomics startups."