In the largest venture capital round in Washington state so far this year, Adaptive Biotechnologies has scored $195 million in fresh funding that the Seattle company said it will use to fuel strategic initiatives.
Backers of the company — which is working on technologies in the sequencing of T-cell and B-cell receptors in the immune system — include Matrix Capital, Senator Investment Group, Tiger Management, Rock Springs Capital and an additional undisclosed large healthcare investor. Total funding in the company, which employs 170 people, stands at more than $400 million.
It marks the largest financing round in the company to date, following a $105 million round that closed last April and a $94 million round that closed earlier this year that was tied to its acquisition of San Francisco-based Sequenta.
“The disruptive potential of our ground-breaking immunosequencing technology is evidenced by the tremendous commitment of our world-class investors,” said Adaptive Biotechnologies CEO Chad Robins in a press release. “We are honored to work with a consortium of investors who share in our vision that understanding the adaptive immune system will change the course of medicine across many therapeutic areas including cancer and other immune-mediated diseases.”
Just last month, Adaptive and the University of Texas announced findings in the British Journal of Haematology demonstrating the ability to detect Hodgkin’s Lymphoma through a simple blood test. Currently, doctors must use costly radiographic imaging studies to detect the disease.
To put the $195 million figure in perspective, consider this. Last quarter, there was $381 million invested throughout the entire Pacific Northwest, so that mean’s Adaptive’s latest funding round is more than half of all the money raised last quarter.
It is not the only big money flowing into biotech in Washington state. Last year, Juno Therapeutics —a spin-out of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Seattle Children’s Research Institute — raised $280 million in an IPO. That followed $316 million in venture capital funding that had been pumped into the cancer research startup in less than 18 months prior.
