Omicia Gains Funding; Adds to Board

Oakland, Calif.-based Omicia Inc. has closed $6.8 million of series A financing led by Artis Ventures, to expand its marketing reach and further optimize its big data genomics offerings. Other investors include Acadia Woods Partners, Bay City Capital, Buchanan Investments, and Casdin Capital.

“The support and significant oversubscription by these renowned firms and individuals will allow us to more rapidly execute our business plan to establish our healthcare IT platform, Opal, as the leader for analysis and interpretation of genomic data, whether for research or the clinic,” said Mike Aicher, Omicia’s CEO.

“Clinical genomics is taking off, and we believe Opal offers substantial advantages over competitors,” said Stuart Peterson, president and founder of San Francisco-based Artis Ventures. “Top tier medical institutions are using the big data of next-generation sequencing to further distinguish themselves, and Opal is proving to be the optimal platform to achieve this.”

Omicia also announced today the appointment of two new members to its board of directors. Tad Buchanan, principal of Buchanan Investments, and William Gerber, M.D., with Bay City Capital, will join Mike Aicher, CEO, John Stuelpnagel DVM, chairman and Martin Reese Ph.D., founder and president.

“These appointments further establish Omicia as the premiere company in genome analytics,” said Aicher. “Tad and Bill are seasoned executives and investors who will play a pivotal role in ensuring we fulfill our strategic plan.”

Omicia develops scalable and fully integrated informatics systems specifically designed to interpret human genome sequences for research and clinical applications. Omicia’s Opal platform provides a set of advanced tools designed to allow users to analyze genomes on their own or collaboratively without specialized bioinformatics capabilities.