Bay Area DNA synthesis startup Twist Bioscience just raised a small round of funding: It just brought in $2.6 million from 46 investors, according to a regulatory filing.
This comes in sharp contrast to the $81 million it raised just this past January. Twist Bioscience, however, has been up to some interesting things lately: Earlier this month, it acquired a Genome Compiler Corporation, an Israeli startup that develops software that allows gene design.
Twist Bioscience’s platform centers around scaling DNA synthesis, building genetic sequences out at a fraction of the price of what they’ve historically cost.
“Twist’s beta program is progressing well and our first customer shipments are underway,” CEO Emily Leproust said in a statement.
The company plans to scale its gene volume over the next few months, and will be market-ready by the summer. It plans to build an “elegant, intuitive eCommerce solution with a deep pipeline of digital products to follow” that’ll allow customers to “reimagine their research by providing seamless integration of the design and build of their synthetic DNA,” LeProust said.