SAN FRANCISCO, June 03, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The boards of Transcriptic and 3Scan have unanimously approved an agreement to merge companies to combine their considerable engineering capabilities in developing automated systems for chemistry, biology, and tissue analysis. The resulting new company is Strateos™.
Transcriptic developed the first robotic cloud laboratory platform for on-demand life science research, which is currently in use at several top pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. 3Scan combines automation, machine learning and computer vision to extract spatial data from tissue samples and create detailed 3D representations as well as quantitative analysis of complex anatomical structures. Now these two portfolios will be combined to offer a suite of technologies for accelerating drug discovery and early development.
Both companies have track records integrating novel artificial intelligence and robotics technologies into the pharmaceutical drug discovery process, and each has realized revenue in-line with the value created by their novel products and services. Integration of the two companies will be aided by their proximity, with development and production teams operating across California.
In support of the Strateos mission, DCVC (Data Collective) and Lux Capital have invested an additional $16.5M, including support from Dolby Family Ventures, to enable the combined company to expand.
“As a longtime lead investor in both companies, DCVC anticipates the combined entity will be exponentially more impactful,” said Armen Vidian, Strateos Board member and DCVC Operating Partner. “Each of these companies has enabled multinational pharmaceutical companies to dramatically improve the efficiency of their drug discovery programs. But taken together, Strateos can transform the speed, scale, cost, and precision of scientists’ ability to discover new life-saving medicines across multiple steps in the discovery process.”
“The future of scientific discovery is now happening at the edge where disciplines meet, where advanced biology and high-tech engineering combine, where wet labs, chemistry, 3D imaging and robotic automation technologies operate together to unleash more control and creativity from scientists than ever before possible,” said Strateos Board member and Lux Capital Managing Director Josh Wolfe. “We are thrilled to help build a globally impactful and historic company.”
The Strateos board is also pleased to announce that Mark Fischer-Colbrie has joined as President and Chief Executive Officer. He will also sit on the Strateos Board of Directors. Mr. Fischer-Colbrie has over 30 years of executive experience in diagnostics, medical devices, therapeutics and laboratory tools and has taken three companies public. Most recently he served for ten years as CEO of Labcyte Inc. until its acquisition by Danaher Corporation. Prior to Labcyte, Mr. Fischer-Colbrie headed Business Development and was CFO of Adeza Biomedical Corporation where he was an inventor on several patents. He has a B.A. from Stanford University and an M.B.A. in Finance and Marketing from University of California at Berkeley. Mr. Fischer-Colbrie was chosen as EY Entrepreneur of the Year, Life Sciences for Northern California and one of three national finalists in 2013.
“Accelerating discovery and achieving breakthroughs more efficiently has been an on-going goal of mine for decades,” said Mr. Fischer-Colbrie. “I am pleased to join this group of innovators and to help hone cutting edge technologies as we become the preferred partner to biopharma in their discovery and development efforts.”
In addition to Mr. Vidian, Mr. Wolfe, and Mr. Fischer-Colbrie, the new Board of Directors will include Mara Aspinall, Managing Director of BlueStone Venture Partners and former President and CEO of Ventana Medical Systems division of Roche, and Jeff Finer, M.D., Ph.D., Venture Partner at Third Rock Ventures. Mr. Finer will serve as Board Chairman.
About Strateos™
Strateos automates chemistry, biology, and tissue analysis into closed loop robotic labs that accelerate drug discovery programs. Through a combination of best-in-class robotics and control systems, advanced software for imaging and analytics, and remote cloud laboratories, we enable our pharmaceutical partners to more rapidly and efficiently discover new drug candidates.
Discover more at strateos.com
Contact:
Terri Hnatyszyn
VP, Marketing & Communications
terri.hnatyszyn@strateos.com
(415) 656-8927