Fulgent Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLGT) (“Fulgent” or the “Company”), a technology-based genetic testing company focused on transforming patient care in oncology, infectious and rare diseases, and reproductive health, today announced a strategic investment in Spatial Genomics, Inc. (“Spatial”), a leading developer of sequential fluorescence in situ hybridization (seqFISH) technology. Fulgent Genetics is investing up to $40 million to lead Spatial Genomics’ Series A financing, which totals approximately $56 million and also includes investments by 12 West Capital and other investors. Fulgent is also entering into commercial arrangements with Spatial to integrate Spatial Genomics’ seqFISH technology into Fulgent’s comprehensive genomic testing platform.
“seqFISH enables a highly multiplexed, quantitative, and multiomic analysis of cells and tissues that we believe will be essential to the next era of biological discovery, the continued evolution of precision medicine, drug and biomarker discovery, and the improvement of clinical diagnostics.”
Spatial Genomics has developed a spatial single-cell multiomics analysis platform based on the seqFISH technology originally developed in the laboratory of Professor Long Cai at the California Institute of Technology. seqFISH is a revolutionary technology designed to enable highly multiplexed and multiomic analyses of cells directly in the tissue microenvironments where they function, allowing researchers to identify novel cell types and cellular interactions, map genomic organization and nuclear architecture, and analyze cell trajectories far more efficiently than existing technologies.
Under this arrangement, Fulgent expects to add Spatial Genomics’ multiomics analysis platform to the suite of lab services already available to its pharmaceutical and clinical research customer base.
“We believe this strategic investment and commercial arrangement is an exciting opportunity for Fulgent as we will add Spatial Genomics’ leading seqFISH technology and multiomics analysis platform to our suite of genomic testing solutions,” said Dr. Harry Gao, Chief Scientific Officer at Fulgent. “Spatial’s seqFISH technology is a highly promising platform that will enable clinicians to efficiently perform highly multiplexed single-cell analysis of RNA, DNA and proteins beyond the capabilities of other types of spatial analyses. We look forward to working with Spatial to commercialize this technology for broader reach and application.”
“We are excited to secure this Series A funding, which will support and accelerate our continued growth as a company, and the ongoing commercialization of our seqFISH technology platform,” said Kirsten Frieda, CEO and cofounder of Spatial Genomics. “seqFISH enables a highly multiplexed, quantitative, and multiomic analysis of cells and tissues that we believe will be essential to the next era of biological discovery, the continued evolution of precision medicine, drug and biomarker discovery, and the improvement of clinical diagnostics.”
Spatial Genomics will use the funds from its Series A financing round to accelerate the commercialization of their seqFISH technology platform, grow their seqFISH laboratory services group, and aggressively expand their workforce, including in R&D, engineering, manufacturing, sales, marketing, customer support, and commercial operations.
