Iridia is working on developing the world’s first commercially-attractive, DNA-based data storage solution in the form of memory chips. These chips will use synthetic DNA as the storage media, allowing rather high data density. Recently, they secured $24 million in funding which shows the growing importance of this technology. Read more here. 

After only being funded 18 months ago, OmniSync has raised $1M in an oversubscribed seed round. OmniSync helps tech and life science companies raise debt and equity free funds from the government via federal grants. The round was led by Govtech Fund, whose funds are dedicated to government tech startups. Read more here. 

San Diego-based meal prep company, Meallogix, has just raised $1.7M in a pre-series round led by Tech Coast Angels. The team will be using the capital to build its front and back-end enterprise resource planning software, expand its reach in the U.S., launch a meal prep sector-specific online learning platform, and add key leadership roles.  Read more here.

Recently, Prometheus Biosciences went public and raised $190M in its IPO. The company develops precision antibody therapies for IBD and related diseases. Read more here.  

Carlsbad-based GenMark has been purchased by testing giant, Roche, for $1.8 Billion.  GenMark makes tests that detect multiple pathogens simultaneously including pneumonia and sepsis. Roche has likely acquired GenMark to challenge rivals functioning in this space.  Read more here.   

San-Diego Based Founders First closed a $9 million series A led by The Rockefeller Foundation. The funds will be used to fund 400 companies with diverse founders. Read more here. 

As a result of the pandemic, teaching became either hybrid or fully remote for institutions across the country. CourseKey works with organizations that educate many essential workers and works to increase student retention and graduation rates. Things really took off for them at the onset of the pandemic, and they’ve been able to raise $9 million in a Series B after their ARR grew by 200% in 2020. Read more here.

San Diego-based DTx Pharma, a biotechnology company that uses RNA-based therapies to treat genetic factors of genetic diseases, raised $100 Million in a Series B round.  Their platform, FALCON (Fatty Acid Ligand Conjugated Oligonucleotide), allows the team to look into diseases in skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and the peripheral nervous system.  Read more about the funding here.   

JMI Equity just closed its latest growth equity fund, JMI Equity Fund X, at it’s cap of $1.7 billion.   The San Diego & Baltimore based fund makes investments of $20 million to $200 million in best-in-class software businesses, and is a backer of many late stage San Diego startups including SOCi, Seismic, Classy, and Lytx    This latest growth fund tops their last, JMI Equity Fund IX, which closed in 2018 at $1.2 billion.   Read more about JMI Equity Fund...

Workiz, a software that helps small businesses in the home services space manage teams and more easily communicate with their customers, closed a funding round of $13 million.The round was oversubscribed following double-digit growth in 2020.  Read more about the funding here.