Photographer: Noriko Hayashi/Bloomberg Blood-testing company Karius Inc. raised $100 million in a new funding round from investors, and will use the cash to get its technology for detecting hard-to-identify infections into more hospitals.
The funding round was led by existing investor Khosla Ventures alongside 5AM Ventures and Glide Healthcare. The company declined to give its valuation.
Redwood City, California-based Karius’ blood tests look for pathogens by comparing fragments of microbial DNA with a database of 20,000 genomic references, essentially an atlas of bacteria, parasites and more. The tool can usually hone in on the infection within 26 hours, the company said, considerably shorter than many hospital tests.
To help analyze data quickly, the company technology uses artificial intelligence — a still-nascent technology in medical contexts, but one that some researchers say could someday result in big improvements for patients.
Karius is led by Chief Executive Officer Alec Ford, who joined in October 2020. The company’s latest funding haul is smaller than the $165 million it raised in early 2020, part of a deal led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund II, a firm known for writing big checks. The lower number reflects a new reality facing many startups, even those using AI tools: A tough financing climate means that they may not be able to raise as much money as they did in the past. Karius CEO Alec FordSource: Karius Investors say the situation doesn’t reflect the fundamentals of Karius’ business. “What a fair price means in different markets does vary,” said Alex Morgan, a partner at Khosla, who is joining Karius’ board. “We’re always trying to invest in good technology when we see it at good prices.”
Ford said he’s confident that the company will win more of the medical testing market, an industry currently plagued by inefficiencies. Many cancer patients die from an infection caught while they are undergoing treatment rather than from the underlying cancer, he said, in part because it takes so long to identify infections in this group. Ford’s sister was hospitalized more than a dozen times with infections during her treatment for inflammatory breast cancer, he said. She died from […]
Khosla, VCs Plow $100 Million Into Blood Test Startup Using AI
