SeqOne raises €3m to accelerate the adoption of genetic testing in healthcare

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SeqOne announces a three million euro funding round led by Elaia with IRDI / SORIDEC and supported by BPI France.  The funding will accelerate the development of SeqOne’s genetic analysis platform combining AI and big data approaches to  make genetic analysis more accessible to doctors treating cancer and hereditary diseases.

[Dateline: Montpellier 28/03/2019]  Chronic conditions such as cancer are now the leading cause of death in developed nations and are responsible for an unsustainable increase in healthcare costs.  Fortunately advances in genomics offer new weapons in the fight against these diseases, promising to simultaneously reduce human suffering and control healthcare costs.  Recent technical innovations in sequencing, the decoding of a patient’s genome, have made the process of obtaining the raw data fast and efficient while reducing costs.  However, the analysis of a patient’s genetic data remains complex and expensive and now constitutes the main barrier to the widespread adoption of genomic medicine.

SeqOne seeks to dramatically simplify the process of analysing genetic data in healthcare applications while providing the type of information doctors need to help their patients.  To achieve this objective, the company has developed the cloud-based SeqOne | Platform that handles each step of the genetic analysis process; from management of the raw data all the way to the generation of an easy-to-understand report for the doctor. SeqOne’s unique solution can be characterised by three core focus areas:

  • The use of the latest big data technologies that enable the platform to handle high patient volumes and the increasingly complex data produced by the latest generation of sequencers,
  • The use of AI to identify the mutations most relevant to the patient, and
  • A suite of highly specialised applications, some developed internally and others conjunction with external genetic specialists, that simplify the implementation of new types of genetic tests that can provide better answers to doctors.

SeqOne delivers benefits including higher productivity of those responsible for genomic analysis, lower costs, faster turnaround times and more accurate results.  The solution is currently under evaluation in over half of France’s university hospitals (CHU’s) as well as in the three major private sector testing labs. “The speed of adoption of our technology demonstrates its value in the demanding world of genomic analysis.” said Nicolas Philippe, CEO of SeqOne.

SeqOne is led by Nicolas Philippe who holds a doctorate in bioinformatics and has authored some of the popular open source tools used by the community as well as being recognized with several awards including the Hélène Stark prize for cancer research and the iLab prize for entrepreneurship. The team has over twenty years combined experience in analysing NGS (Next Generation Sequencing) genomic data as well as extensive experience in managing secure, high throughput, high availability cloud-based systems.

This funding round, the company’s first, brings together three leading early-stage investors who will together provide three million euros (€3M) of funding.   “Since gene sequencing has been made widely available, healthcare professionals urgently need efficient tools to analyze and manage this huge amount of data with accuracy, responsiveness and productivity. SeqOne founders have merged best-in-class skills in AI, cloud architecture and genomics to fulfil this need. At Elaia, we love when the most advanced digital techniques can bring medicine/healthcare techniques one step further. This investment in SeqOne is also our first co-investment between Elaia Delta Fund, which is aimed at B2B tech companies and PSL Innovation Fund, which focuses on companies linked to Paris Sciences et Lettres research laboratories” declare Marc Rougier and Franck Lescure, Partners at Elaia.

One of the funds participating in the investment round is the PSL Innovation Fund, a seed and tech transfer fund created by Elaia Partners and PSL University.  Its presence will facilitate SeqOne’s access to leading research teams and the technologies they develop.

SeqOne will use the funds to strengthen its applications in the field of cancer as well as to expand its sales and marketing efforts.  The company seeks to become the preeminent choice for healthcare institutions and medical testing labs wishing to offer high performance genetic testing at scale.

To find out more check out the SeqOne video

About Elaia: Created in 2002, Elaia is an independent venture capital firm, focused on the digital economy and deep tech. With over €350m under management, Elaia invests in high potential disruptive startups from the first financing rounds to the emergence of global leaders. With more than 75 years of cumulated experience in both venture capital and digital industries, the investment team offers a close, proactive and relevant support to its entrepreneurs.

Elaia has two active investment funds:

1/ Elaia Delta Fund (€150m) is an early stage venture fund targeting seed or Series A digital tech B2B companies.

2/ PSL Innovation Fund (€75m) is a deep tech seed fund targeting pre-seed or seed startups linked to Paris Sciences et Lettres research labs.

We back tech disruptors such as Criteo (IPO), Orchestra Networks (sold to Tibco), Sigfox, Teads (sold to Altice), Mirakl, Tinyclues, Shift Technology etc.

Learn more http://www.elaia.com • @Elaia_Partners


About IRDI / SORIDEC: Based in Toulouse, Montpellier and Bordeaux, Irdi Soridec Gestion has a track record of investing in companies based in south-western France at all stages of development (venture capital and buyout) for more than 35 years. It manages more than € 300 m through several funds including IRDInov2, a technology seed fund supported by the French National Seed Fund (FNA), through which it has invested in SeqOne. For more information: https://www.irdisoridec.fr/

About SeqOne: SeqOne develops state-of-the-art genomics analysis tools for clinical applications in the fields of cancer and rare disease. Its flagship product, SeqOne | Platform is a cloud-based end-to-end solution that dramatically reduces the turnaround time and cost required to deliver accurate genetic analyses for use in mainstream medicine.  In the short time since it has launched its platform secured a wide user base in a diver range of healthcare establishments including hospitals and private sector testing labs. It has won numerous awards including the prestigious iLab award and the ARC cancer foundation’s Hélène Stark prize. SeqOne is supported by the SATT AxLR and the Montpellier BIC incubator.

For more information: https://seqone.com

Contacts

SeqOne lève €3m euros pour mettre les tests génomiques au service du diagnostic et de la médecine personnalisée

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Montpellier, le 28 mars 2019

La start-up montpelliéraine de bioinformatique SeqOne annonce une levée de fonds de 3 millions d’euros mené par Elaia avec la participation de l’Irdi-Soridec et BPI France. Ce financement en equity permettra à SeqOne d’accélérer le développement de sa plateforme d’analyse et d’interprétation des données issues du séquençage du génome et d’en promouvoir l’accès auprès des établissements hospitaliers et des laboratoires de biologie médicale.

Alors que les progrès technologiques autour de la médecine génomique s’accélèrent et font naître de grands espoirs dans la prévention et le traitement des cancers, des maladies rares et des maladies chroniques, le fossé entre le potentiel offert par le séquençage du génome et son usage en tant qu’outil opérationnel de diagnostic ne cesse de se creuser.

En effet, face à la masse de données issue du séquençage, dont seule une infime fraction contient des informations pertinentes, médecins et cliniciens sont dans l’attente d’outils pour interpréter efficacement ces données génomiques. C’est en effet à cette condition qu’elles seront exploitables pour établir ou consolider un diagnostic en vue de l’élaboration d’une stratégie thérapeutique personnalisée.

SeqOne marie Génomique et Intelligence Artificielle

SeqOne, entreprise de bioinformatique française implantée à Montpellier, s’est fixée comme mission de mettre à disposition des professionnels de santé une solution numérique complète d’analyse et d’interprétation de données génomiques, simple, économique et accessible dans le cloud.

SeqOne est dirigé par Nicolas Philippe, titulaire d’un doctorat en bioinformatique et auteur de certains des outils open source les plus populaires au sein de la communauté. Nicolas Philippe est également lauréat de plusieurs prix dont le prix Hélène Stark et le prix d’entrepreneuriat iLab. L’équipe possède plus de vingt ans d’expérience combinée dans l’analyse des données génomiques NGS (Next Generation Sequencing) ainsi qu’une expérience reconnue dans la gestion de systèmes sécurisés, à haut débit et à haute disponibilité basés dans le Cloud.

Développée depuis cinq ans en partenariat avec l’’iRMB et le CHU de Montpellier et soutenue en Occitanie par la SATT AxLR et l’incubateur BIC de Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole, cette solution combine un ensemble de technologies innovantes (intelligence artificielle, big data) et est actuellement utilisée dans cinq CHU et trois laboratoires privés d’analyse génétique partout en France. La solution est également en évaluation dans une dizaine d’autres CHU.

L’un des fonds participant au tour de table est le PSL Innovation Fund, fonds d’amorçage et de tech transfer créé par Elaia et l’Université PSL. Sa présence ouvre la voie à des collaborations de SeqOne avec des équipes de recherche de très haut niveau.

Pour Nicolas Philippe, fondateur-directeur général de SeqOne. : «L’adoption de notre technologie par les plus grands CHU français et les laboratoires de biologie médicale démontre non seulement l’intérêt de l’analyse génomique pour la médecine de précision mais encore la performance et l’utilité de notre solution analytique. »

« Depuis la généralisation du séquençage génomique, les professionnels de santé sont confrontés à un besoin urgent d’outils efficaces pour analyser et gérer un énorme volume de données médicales avec précision, réactivité et productivité. Par son expertise reconnue en Intelligence Artificielle, SeqOne permet de répondre à ce besoin. Chez Elaia, nous adorons le fait que les techniques numériques les plus avancées permettent de faire progresser la qualité des soins médicaux. Cet investissement chez SeqOne est aussi notre premier co-investissement entre Elaia Delta Fund qui s’adresse aux entreprises B2B tech et PSL Innovation Fund qui se concentre sur les entreprises liées aux laboratoires de recherche Paris Sciences et Lettres.» déclarent Marc Rougier et Franck Lescure, Partners chez Elaia.

SeqOne Video
https://seqone.com/home/video/

Pour en savoir plus, regardez la vidéo de présentation de SeqOne

Contact médias

Alexandre LABARRIERE – Agence Aromates

alabarriere@aromates.fr – 01 46 99 10 89 / 06 37 15 01 56

Louisa MESNARD – Elaia

lmesnard@elaia.fr –  +33 (0)6 50 88 13 04

À propos d’Elaia

Elaia est une société de capital risque indépendante basée à Paris qui gère plus de €350m et investit en seed et Series A dans des startups digitales et deep tech européennes. Elaia est intervenue auprès de sociétés telles que Criteo (IPO), Orchestra Networks (vendu à Tibco), Sigfox, Teads (vendu à Altice), Mirakl, Tinyclues, Shift Technology, etc.

Elaia dispose de deux fonds d’investissement actifs:

1 / Elaia Delta Fund (150 millions d’euros) est un fonds de capital risque early stage (seed & Series A) destiné aux entreprises B2B digitales.

2 / PSL Innovation Fund (75 millions d’euros) est un fonds deep tech qui se concentre sur les entreprises en pre-seed ou seed liées aux laboratoires de recherche Paris Sciences et Lettres.

Plus d’informations sur http://www.elaia.com •  @Elaia_Partners

À propos de l’IRDI / SORIDEC

Basée à Toulouse, Montpellier et Bordeaux, Irdi Soridec Gestion investit depuis plus de 35 ans dans des sociétés implantées dans le Sud-Ouest de la France à tous les stades de développement (capital risque et capital transmission). Elle gère plus de 300 M€ à travers plusieurs fonds dont IRDInov2, un fonds d’amorçage technologique soutenu par le Fonds National d’Amorçage (FNA), à travers lequel elle a investi dans SeqOne.

Pour plus d’informations : https://www.irdisoridec.fr/

A propos de SeqOne

SeqOne, société de bio-informatique basée à Montpellier, développe des outils d’analyse génomique de pointe pour des applications cliniques dans les domaines du cancer et des maladies rares. Son produit phare, SeqOne | Platform, est une solution de bout en bout basée sur le Cloud qui réduit considérablement les délais et les coûts nécessaires pour fournir des analyses génétiques précises destinées à la médecine traditionnelle.  En peu de temps depuis le lancement de sa plate-forme, elle a sécurisé une large base d’utilisateurs dans un large éventail d’établissements de soins de santé, y compris des hôpitaux et des laboratoires de test du secteur privé. Il a remporté de nombreux prix, dont le prestigieux prix iLab et le prix Hélène Stark de l’ARC Cancer Foundation. SeqOne est supporté par le SATT AxLR et l’incubateur BIC de Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole.Pour plus d’informations : https://seqone.com

Canadian and French startups announce genomics partnership to better diagnose rare disease

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February 28th, 2018: Paris, France & Toronto, Canada

Gene42 Inc., a Toronto company that develops software for precision medicine, and SeqOne, a French life science company providing genomic data analysis solutions for healthcare, announced their partnership to accelerate rare disease diagnosis.

There are roughly 7,000 rare diseases, with patients waiting on average 5–7 years before they receive an accurate diagnosis. Yet over 80% of rare diseases have genetic causes, and next generation sequencing (NGS) provides hope for a speedy and accurate diagnosis.

NGS has the potential to provide substantially more information on the genome which improves a doctor’s capacity to diagnose a patient but can be time-consuming and costly to interpret.

Gene42 and SeqOne are working together to address this issue.

“Capturing the doctor’s medical observations in a standardized way makes it much easier to interpret the patient’s genome,” says Dr. Orion Buske, CEO of Gene42.

Gene42’s flagship product, PhenoTips®, helps doctors quickly record patient details in a standardized format, and SeqOne’s flexible genomic  analysis platform uses machine learning to predict which gene is most likely responsible for the patient’s disease in a matter of minutes.

In a recent pilot study held in France on a cohort of patients suffering from rare diseases, preliminary results indicate that the combined use of PhenoTips and SeqOne significantly improved the proportion of confirmed diagnoses (the diagnostic yield) when compared to traditional methods, while substantially reducing the time required to interpret each patient. The companies are now embarking on a more detailed study to confirm these initial findings across multiple pathologies.

“The collaboration between SeqOne and PhenoTips creates the opportunity to accurately diagnose more patients in a shorter period of time,” explains Dr. Nicolas Philippe, CEO of SeqOne.

As we mark Rare Disease Day, Gene42 and SeqOne recognize the need to accelerate rare disease diagnosis. By combining their efforts and making their software interoperable, it is hoped that this partnership will reduce the time it takes clinicians and researchers to analyze results, decrease healthcare costs, and support the growing adoption of genomic medicine.

About Gene42 Inc.

Founded in 2014, Gene42 develops software for the investigation and treatment of people with genetic based disease. The Toronto-based team of computer scientists, software engineers, and medical experts develops specialized software to solve today’s challenges and discover tomorrow’s opportunities in medical genetics. Its flagship product, PhenoTips®, is used around the world by leading hospitals and research institutions for deep clinical phenotyping and pedigree drawing.

About SeqOne

SeqOne is a life science startup based in Montpellier that seeks to bring genomic medicine into the mainstream by simplifying the analysis of genomic data by offering improved software that manages the entire process of analysis from raw data to final report. SeqOne was founded by two childhood friends; Nicolas Philippe, a PhD in Bioinformatics and Guillaume Buwalda an expert in highly secure high throughput cloud-based computer systems. The project was conceived as part of a public research project and was incubated by the AxLR SATT before being spun out into a separate company. SeqOne enjoys the support of AxLR SATT, the BIC, BPI LRI and the Occitanie region and other regional and national players.

About Rare Disease Day®

Rare Disease Day takes place on the last day of February each year. The objective of this day is to raise awareness about the impact rare diseases have on patients and families. The campaign primarily focuses on the general public but also aims to raise awareness amongst policy makers, government partners, industry stakeholders, researchers and clinicians. The campaign started as a European event and now has over 80 countries participating worldwide. For more information, please visit: www.rarediseaseday.org.

SeqOne wins prestigious iLab grant to improve genomics analysis software in healthcare

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Montpellier 12th of July, 2017:  SeqOne a French start-up in the genomic medicine market is proud to announce that it has been awarded an i-Lab grant by the Ministry of Education and Technology.  i-Lab is a national competition open to all French start-ups designed to identify the most promising technical innovations by France’s most forward-thinking start-ups. The award is associated with a grant aimed at helping each start up to bring the innovation it is developing to the market.

SeqOne is a pioneering startup that provides tools that make it easier for medical professionals to use genomic testing in treating their patients.  It provides a software solution that manages the whole process of analysis, from the raw patient data all the way through to final report, saving time and costs.  “Recent advances in genomic medicine have made it real benefit in treating a growing number of diseases.” Said Nicolas Philippe, CEO of SeqOne.” however the cost of interpreting the raw data is now many times higher than the sequencing itself creating a real barrier. SeqOne is working to reduce this cost differential and make genomic testing available to everyone who needs it”.

SeqOne will use the grant to make the big-data software tools required to perform bioinformatics analysis easier to use, implement new task automation features and enhance quality control and error checking to improve productivity and reduce cost of analysis. The grant will allow SeqOne to hire bioinformatics and big-data technology experts, reinforcing the team’s core competencies in these important disciplines and creating new opportunities in these emerging disciplines.

SeqOne wishes to thank, the AxLR SATT , the BIC, BPI LRI and the Occitanie region for their continued support of the project.

– Ends –

About SeqOne:

SeqOne is a life science start-up based in Montpellier that seeks to bring genomic medicine into the mainstream by simplifying the analysis of genomic data by offering improved software that manages the entire process of analysis from raw data to final report.  SeqOne was founded by two childhood friends; Nicolas Philippe, a PhD in Bioinformatics and Guillaume Buwalda an expert in highly secure high throughput cloud-based computer systems.  The project was conceived as part of a public research project and was incubated by the AxLR SATT before being spun out into a separate company. SeqOne enjoys the support of AxLR SATT , the BIC, BPI LRI and the Occitanie region and other regional and national players.

SeqOne, lauréate du concours i-Lab 2017 pour un projet visant à démocratiser l’analyse ADN au service de notre santé

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Des avancées scientifiques récentes font de la médecine génomique un réel avantage dans le traitement de nombreuses maladies. Cependant le coût d’interprétation des données est aujourd’hui plus élevé que le séquençage en lui-même freinant la démocratisation de cette approche innovante.  “SeqOne vise à réduire ce coût mettant ainsi à portée de tous des tests génétiques performants”. rappel Nicolas PHILIPPE, fondateur de SeqOne.

La subvention i-Lab financera des améliorations notamment ; l’ergonomie des outils, l’automatisation des tâches et les contrôles qualitées qui augmenteront  l’efficacité de la plate-forme.  Elle permettra également l’embauche de collaborateurs dans les domaines de la bioinformatique et l’analyse des données big-data, renforçant les compétences fondamentales de l’équipe tout en créant de nouvelles opportunitées dans des disciplines émergentes.

Le palmarès de la 19e édition du concours national d’aide à la création d’entreprises de technologies innovantes (concours I-LAB 2017), a été dévoilé jeudi 6 juillet 2017 en présence de Frédérique Vidal, ministre de l’Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche et de l’Innovation.   SeqOne remercie ses nombreux partenaires  AxLR SATT, le CHU de Montpellier, le BIC, BPI LRI, la Région Occitanie et l’Université de Montpellier.

A propos de SeqOne

SeqOne est un startup en bioinformatique basée à Montpellier qui propose une plate-forme numérique d’analyse des données génomiques avec une solution SaaS intégrée qui gère l’ensemble du processus, des données brutes au rapport final.

SeqOne a été fondée par deux amis d’enfance; Nicolas PHILIPPE, un doctorant en bioinformatique et Guillaume BUWALDA expert en systèmes informatiques à haut débit hautement sécurisés dans le cadre d’un projet de recherche publique accompagnée par SATT AxLR depuis 2014. SeqOne est soutenue par AxLR SATT, le CHU de Montpellier, le BIC, BPI LRI, la Région Occitanie et l’Université de Montpellier.

Web: www.seqone.fr

Contact  : Jean Marc Holder, jm.holder@seqone.fr – +33 6 03 24 57 56

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SeqOne Platform is an in vitro diagnostic medical device, CE-IVD certified, designed to perform bioinformatics analysis of raw high-throughput sequencing data to help diagnosis. Manufacturer: SeqOne Genomics (France). Please read the instructions provided in the user manual carefully. Modified October 4th, 2023.