IndyGeneUS AI opens its seed round with a $1.5M investment from South African-based venture capital company IsimoVest Venture Capital Partners in addition to an undisclosed amount from a South African angel investor.
Located in Cape Town, IsimoVest is a Pan-African venture capital company that specializes in early-stage, high-potential technology ventures that will likely provide highly impactful corporate social investment solutions.
As a cutting-edge investment firm, IsimoVest is dedicated to economically empowering communities for the benefit of Africans.
To that end, the firm will support IndyGeneUS AI in establishing its sequencing facility in Cape Town and establishing local key strategic partnerships.
“We have watched IndyGeneUS AI from infancy,” says Yongama Skweyiya, managing partner at IsimoVest.
“When they first joined the Founder Institute South Africa Accelerator, we knew they were a company we wanted to keep our eye on… they knew exactly what the market needed and how they would fulfill the needs of the marketplace.”
IndyGeneUS AI is developing a Multiomic data analysis and management platform that can detect new signature sequences such as biomarkers or polygenic risk scores by integrating “omics” data, meta data and textual information such as Electronic Healthcare Record data.
“It really means a lot to have our Founder Institute mentors as our first round of investors,” says Founder Institute alumni and IndyGeneUS AI CEO, Yusuf Henriques.
“This investment provides us with the capital we need to deploy our sequencing tools and a proprietary algorithm to curate large genetic datasets and improve identification of disease-causing genetic variants and novel drug targets.”
“Founder Institute is proud of how IndyGeneUS AI emerged from our SA accelerator program with a singular mission to tackle an important problem that will benefit the African continent,” says
Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata, Regional Director of Founder Institute Africa. “Yusuf has remained focused and resolute on this mission and we’re happy to continuously support his growth.”
Funding will cover equipment and operation costs to install the first NovaSeq 6000 next-generation sequencing platform at IndyGeneUS AI’s flagship location, which has yet to be determined.
This cutting-edge technology will soon provide whole genome sequencing capabilities and other innovative technologies to address the unmet needs of researchers and clinicians as precision medicine is adopted and novel targeted molecular therapies are developed.
Featured Image: IndyGeneUS AI CEO, Yusuf Henriques
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