Clear Labs, a genomic data platform hoping to stop E-coli outbreaks in your favorite burrito chain before they start, has pulled in $13 million in Series B funding to build a next-generation sequencing-based (NGS) microbiome test and grow the business.
It’s often hard for food manufacturers to know the origins of an infected batch before it goes out to the public. However, Clear Labs applies similar technology used in human clinical trials, but for food products, to find these bad batches. And it’s working with some of the world’s largest brands to test for ingredient accuracy, origin, GMOs, bacterial contamination and allergens — as well as nutritional data and off-label additives.
The funding comes from Wing VC — which led the round — as well as Google Ventures, Tencent, Khosla Ventures and Felicis Ventures, and comes at a time when the startup is ready to enter what it calls an “aggressive” commercialization stage in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Clear Labs says the new cash will be applied to hiring, accelerating the licensing of its technology to third-party laboratories and to developing its portfolio of tests — including, as mentioned, microbiome testing and whole genome sequencing for assessing possible pathogens in our food, as well as building on its GMO testing.
