GenomeUp start-up specialising in the secure processing and management of genetic data for the diagnosis of genetic diseases, announces that it has closed a EUR 4.5 million investment round. The capital raised will enable the company to accelerate growth in the Italian market, expand internationally, and enhance JuliaOmix to support early oncological diagnosis and other applications based on omics big data, vast volumes of information generated by the integrated analysis of different areas of omics research, such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and epigenomics, which allow an in-depth view of biological processes and a more accurate understanding of diseases.
The operation was led by The Techshop, through its fund Techshop Primo, and underwritten by CDP Venture Capital through its Fondo Evoluzione and by Opes Italia, a sicaf specialising in impact investments with positive social impacts.
Thanks to this injection of financial resources, GenomeUp is accelerating its expansion plan, strengthening its partnerships with centres of excellence in clinical genetics and laboratories, including the Bambino Gesù Paediatric Hospital in Rome, the Buzzi Paediatric Hospital in Milan and the Ospedale di Venere in Bari, where a genomic screening was recently assigned. GenomeUp’s strategy aims to create an integrated digital infrastructure, connecting clinicians, laboratories and hospitals in a single national network to make advanced diagnostics more accessible and efficient. This approach has been further consolidated with the recent awards in the regions of Tuscany and Veneto, the first building blocks of an innovative network destined to evolve into a national model serving patients and precision medicine.
Indeed, it is on the connection of different processes and stakeholders that the competitive advantage of the JuliaOmix platform is based, a modular ecosystem designed to offer an end-to-end workflow for diagnostics in genetics. From patient history to reporting, the platform integrates and optimises every step of the process, ensuring business continuity and smooth management of genetic data for clinicians and laboratories.
GenomeUp currently has four complementary products: the first module, MED, guides the patient’s anamnesis and supports the physician in choosing the most appropriate genetic analysis pathway. Next, the TRK product operates at laboratory level, managing sample tracking and workflow optimisation. At this point, the two modules with the highest technological value are inserted: the CLD, which integrates with the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) machines to manage data storage and an initial analysis phase, and the LAB, which completes the flow by interpreting the data, supporting the geneticist in formulating the diagnosis.
Since its launch, the GenomeUp software has enabled more than two petabytes of data to be tracked, reported and stored in its systems, on approximately 45,000 patients, managing more than 18,000 sequences in dozens of hospitals, genetic centres and research laboratories, consolidating its position as a strategic technology partner for the healthcare sector, both public and private.
The growing demand for advanced solutions for analysing, tracking, reporting and securely storing patients’ genetic data is now driven by the decreasing cost of access to sequencing technology, the race to genetically profile an ever-increasing number of diseases, and the combination of therapies aiming at personalisation. Genomeup is responding to this challenge with innovative solutions that drastically reduce the time needed to perfect advanced diagnoses and optimise costs for all involved.
The company, accelerated by Zest in 2018, projects an ambitious development plan that will lead it to multiply its revenues by a factor of five over the next three years thanks to an expansion strategy that combines a direct and indirect sales network with distribution partnerships with strategic industry players such as: Dedalus, Revvity and Roche. The business model, based on a combination of SaaS and pay-per-use, offers maximum flexibility to customers, ensuring scalable and effective adoption.
“This transaction,” explained Simone Gardini, CEO of GenomeUp (pictured with the team), in a note, “supported by leading investors, strengthens Genomeup’s leadership in the market of big data management used for diagnostic purposes. We are ready to take our solution to an international level, offering the only end-to-end platform capable of supporting physicians in the diagnosis of genetic diseases. It is crucial to remember that behind every byte is a person, a patient with a unique and priceless genetic heritage, whom we have a duty to protect from potential attacks.”
‘We are proud to invest in GenomeUp,’ say Aurelio Mezzotero and Gianluca D’Agostino, managing partners of The Techshop. ‘We were impressed by the ambition of the team and the passion with which the company is pursuing such an ethically important mission. The start-up has been able to solve some of the highly complex scientific and technological issues that slow down the effectiveness of genetic laboratories today. We anticipate that, thanks in part to GenomeUp’s complete and secure infrastructure, the hospitals and laboratories it serves will be able to put genetics at the heart of the diagnosis of many diseases that are today untreatable, such as rare paediatric diseases and cancers.”
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