Silicon Valley firm invests big bucks in St. John's company Sequence Bio

Data Collective, a venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley, California, has invested $3 million in Newfoundland and Labrador bio-technology company Sequence Bio.

Sequence Bio is a data-driven company that is leading a 100,000 person genome sequencing project. Their aim is to use data collected from the people of Newfoundland and Labrador to improve how diseases are diagnosed and treated.

"Newfoundland and Labrador is an incredible jurisdiction, an incredible opportunity to change the way healthcare is delivered," said Tyler Wish, CEO and founder of Sequence Bio.

"It's an incredible opportunity to use the data that's inherent to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador and our healthcare system in a way that creates new scientific discoveries, in a way that advances our healthcare system here in Newfoundland and Labrador and, most importantly, improves the quality of healthcare for the people of the province."

Dream of growth becoming reality

We get to grow a world-class bio-technology company right here in Newfoundland and Labrador.- Tyler Wish, CEO and founder of Sequence Bio

The local company has about a dozen employees and is hoping to double in size by the end of the year. With the money from Data Collective (DCVC), that dream of growth is becoming a reality.

"[The investment] means that we get to grow a world-class bio-technology company right here in Newfoundland and Labrador," Wish said.

"As a young company, we need to advance our ideas, grow the team, do some proof of concept work and studies, and this initial investment allows us to do all those things. And, most importantly, it builds on the initial investment. It allows us to raise significantly more money in the future if we're successful."

Getting investors interested

Sequence Bio will need to raise about $100 million in order to complete their project. While this initial investment doesn't come close, it can help get other big investors interested in their work.

"I think it's really important for Newfoundland and Labrador that we embrace our innovation economy, our entrepreneurship community. And the reason that this is so significant is that this represents some of the most sophisticated and important venture capital money in the world," Wish said.

"They look at all kinds of global opportunities and they've selected a Newfoundland and Labrador company to invest in, to build a big company, to hire a lot of people, to do great things on the world stage."

DCVC was joined in the financing by existing investors Killick Capital, Venture NL — a private venture capital fund created by Pelorus, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, BDC Capital Inc. and angel investors — and Klister Credit Corp.