No sooner had spatial biology made its way into the mainstream of genomic science than GEN figured out the key players in the emerging field, then ranked them for its first A-List of “Top 10 Spatial Biology Companies“, published in 2021.
Earlier that year, the editors of Nature unanimously recognized the technology—which they called spatially resolved transcriptomics—as Method of the Year 2020. “This maintenance of spatial context is crucial for understanding key aspects of cell biology, developmental biology, neurobiology, tumor biology, and more, as specialized cell types and their specific organization are crucially tied to biological activity and remain poorly explored on the scale of whole tissues and organisms.”
The spatial market is on a growth trajectory, though estimates differ on how quickly it will expand in coming years. BCC Research projected in April that spatial genomics and transcriptomics will grow from $1.5 billion last year at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.8, to $2.5 billion by 2027.
That’s more than double the $1.2 billion estimate by 2027 forecast by DeciBio Consulting, which foresees an even faster CAGR of 30% from 2022, placing the value that year at just over $323 million.
Among stakeholders that appreciate the potential of spatial biology is Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
A*STAR’s Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) joined in October with NanoString Technologies and Next Level Genomics, a long-read next-generation sequencing services provider, to establish a joint laboratory focused on applying spatial biology to identify biomarkers that can predict disease progression and treatment response. The new lab, SpACE-Dx (short for Spatial Atlas of Clinical Evolution of Disease), will drive research in complex diseases—primarily focusing on cancer—by harnessing spatial multiomic (gene and protein expression) technologies.
GEN published an updated spatial biology A-List last year, and is pleased to update that list again here. One interesting trend: Revenues for the top five spatial biology companies are climbing. Between 2021 and 2022, total revenue for those companies rose just 3% over 2021, from $3.239 billion to $3.347 billion. Over the first half of this year, however, revenues for those top five public companies soared 17% from a year earlier, from $1.556 billion to $1.826 billion.
On a brighter note, total capital raised by the top five private companies jumped 40% year over year, from more than $365.3 million in 2022 to more than $511.5 million this year.
This A-List is actually three lists in one—public companies, private companies, and “up and coming” companies of note, updated as of November 6.
Public companies are ranked by their combined revenues for 2022 and the first half of 2023, as disclosed in regulatory filings, including sales of products or services, as well as revenue from collaborations and R&D activity.
Private companies are ranked by the total capital they have raised, as disclosed by the companies themselves, either in press statements or in responses to GEN queries verifying figures compiled by other sources.
Also included in this list are eight “up-and-comers,” companies that have either raised significant capital in recent months, shown positive data for their technologies, and/or launched significant new collaborations with partners.
Each company is listed with a short explanation of their recent activity.
Top Public Companies |
5. Akoya BiosciencesRevenue: $32.671 million in Q1–Q2 2023; $74.859 million in 2022 Akoya Biosciences launched its PhenoCycler-Fusion 2.0 and PhenoImager® HT 2.0 platform upgrades during the second quarter. The enhanced PhenoCycler-Fusion 2.0 System enables customers to process twice as many samples per week as its previous version—the highest throughput spatial discovery platform on the market, Akoya says. The PhenoImager 2.0 improves workflows 5x over its predecessor product by enabling rapid real-time image analysis directly on the HT instrument. Researchers from Akoya and the University of Queensland’s Frazer Institute recently detailed their use of PhenoCycler Fusion to comprehensively map the spatial proteome of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, in a study published in GEN Biotechnology. |
4. Standard BioToolsRevenue: $52.785 million in Q1–Q2 2023; $97.948 million in 2022 A year after rebranding from Fluidigm following a $250 million capital infusion from Casdin Capital and Viking Global Investors, Standard BioTools will be changing again, having agreed in October to merge with SomaLogic in a deal set to close in Q1 2024. The resulting $1 billion combined company would start out with more than $180 million of pro-forma combined 2023 revenue, over $500 million in estimated cash and cash equivalents, and a leading platform for multi-omic technologies. Standard launched its Hyperion™ XTi Imaging System in April, promising the highest available data quality in spatial proteomics and industry-leading shortest time to results. |
3. NanoString TechnologiesRevenue: $79.962 million in Q1–Q2 2023; $127.262 million in 2022 NanoString Technologies launched what it called “the most comprehensive spatial proteomics panel ever offered” in September when it brought to market its latest assay for the GeoMx® Digital Spatial Profiler (DSP). The GeoMx IO Proteome Atlas (IPA) is designed to enable spatial profiling of more than 570+ immuno-oncology (IO) relevant targets from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue sections—more than five times the content of any competing panel, NanoString says. Researchers from the lab of David Ting, MD, at Massachusetts General Hospital shared the first data from the GeoMx IPA at the recent 38th annual meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC). |
2. 10x GenomicsRevenue: $52.785 million in Q1–Q2 2023; $97.948 million in 2022 10x Genomics’ Xenium Analyzer, a single cell spatial imaging platform, was used in a study posted on bioRxiv characterizing radiation-resistance mechanisms of diffuse midline gliomas (DMGs). 10x’s Visium Spatial Gene Expression and Chromium Single Cell Immune Profiling platforms were featured in an earlier study explaining why immune checkpoint blockade was more effective for treating cancers that spread to the brain than for cancers originating in the brain. Speaking on GEN’s “Close to the Edge” interview series recently, co-founder and CEO Serge Saxonov, PhD, discussed his career and role in development of spatial and single-cell biology. |
1. BrukerRevenue: $1.367 billion in Q1–Q2 2023; $2.531 billion in 2022 At its Investor Day in June, Bruker disclosed that its spatial biology and cellular analysis business will generate more than $70 million in revenue this year, and detailed plans to transform its Canopy Biosciences subsidiary, acquired in 2020, into a performance leader in spatial biology. Spatial biology and proteomics have become two areas of focus for the developer of tools and analytical and diagnostics solutions, as it aims to seize perceived growth opportunities, in part through its Project Accelerate 2.0 series of initiatives. Bruker has established a spatial biology beachhead in recent years by acquiring Canopy and investing in Acuity Spatial Genomics. |
Top Private Companies |
5. Spatial GenomicsTotal Capital Raised: $56 million1 Spatial Genomics closed its approximately $56 million Series A financing early last year, with most of that capital ($40 million) coming from cancer genetic testing company Fulgent Genetics. Fulgent joined 12 West Capital and other investors on the financing, whose proceeds were intended in part to help commercialize the company’s GenePS confocal imager, a spatial single-cell multi-omics analysis platform based on seqFISH technology developed in the lab of Long Cai, PhD, at the California Institute of Technology. The company has also planned to grow its seqFISH laboratory services group, and “aggressively” expand its workforce, including in R&D, engineering, manufacturing, sales, marketing, customer support, and commercial operations. |
4. RareCyteTotal Capital Raised: $99.3 million2 RareCyte received welcome attention for its Orion multiplex high resolution, whole slide multimodal immunofluorescence imaging platform in June and September. Studies published in Nature Cancer and in the Nature-published Oncogene, respectively, showed Orion helping researchers improve how they can predict patient outcomes and can track the efficacy of novel therapies designed to shrink tumors ahead of resection. In the latter study, spatial biology analyses conducted using Orion revealed mechanisms of actions of neoadjuvant botensilimab, a novel innate-adaptive immune activator that was studied in combination with balstilimab in two patients with proficient mismatch repair, microsatellite stable (pMMR/MSS) colon and rectal cancer. |
3. Resolve BiosciencesRevenue: $79.962 million in Q1–Q2 2023; $127.262 million in 2022 Resolve Biosciences completed a $71 million Series B round in October, led by Patient Square Capital. Resolve said it would use the capital to quickly scale operations and accelerate product development to meet growing demand worldwide. Resolve has installed its Molecular Cartography technology at top-tier labs that include Belgium’s VIB and European Spatial Biology Center, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Novo Nordisk Foundation Center at the University of Copenhagen, and Stanford University’s Department of Genetics. Resolve says Molecular Cartography provides the highest-resolution view of subcellular, single-molecule biology, allowing researchers to gain insights related to COVID-19 pathology, neurology, oncology, and developmental biology. |
2. UltivueTotal Capital Raised: Over $120 million Ultivue completed an equity financing in June led by ARCH Venture Partners and Northpond Ventures, without disclosing how much it raised. The InSituPlex® multiplex biomarker assay developer said it would use the proceeds for continued commercial development, sustained progress in creating operational efficiencies, and advancement of its innovation pipeline. Ultivue on October 30 announced the launch of its OmniVUE™ portfolio of fully customizable biomarker panels for multiplex immunofluorescence analysis of the tumor immune microenvironment. In May, the company launched several collaborations for AI-powered spatial phenomics solutions for translational research groups and biopharma. Ultivue also welcomed Rob Carson, a 20+ year life sciences industry veteran, as its president and CEO. |
1. VizgenTotal Capital Raised: $136.2 million Vizgen in October confirmed in a statement it had reduced its workforce by an undisclosed number “to scale and focus our business and ensure long-term sustainability and growth.” The developer of the MERSCOPE® platform also named two winners of its first-ever MERSCOPE Platform Grants, designed to fund cancer research proposals deemed most innovative and impactful. In July, Vizgen celebrated the installation of its 100th MERSCOPE instrument at Baylor College of Medicine’s Single Cell Genomics Core led by Rui Chen, PhD. Vizgen completed its most recent financing last year, an $85.2 million Series C round led by Blue Water Life Science Advisors and ARCH Venture Partners. |
Up & Comers |
Arima GenomicsArima Genomics expanded into cancer diagnostics in May, successfully demonstrating its sequencing-based chromosome conformation assay kits designed to identify cancer driver mutations. Also in May, Arima formed a clinical advisory board designed to help it advance its 3D genomics technologies into the clinical oncology and biopharmaceutical markets, as well as help inform the company’s strategy and future product development efforts. At the start of 2023, Arima joined the NIH’s Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative to help researchers to carry out single-cell sequencing in brain cells. Arima raised a $3 million Series A financing in 2020 and a $7 million Series B last year. |
Dovetail Genomics (Cantata Bio)Dovetail Genomics, which focuses on 3D genomics, merged with metagenomics tools company Arc Bio last year to form Cantata Bio. Dovetail, which continues as a subsidiary of Cantata, in October launched its Dovetail® TopoLink™ v2 Assay, promising a faster, more cost-effective, and higher-quality solution for studying chromatin architecture. TopoLink is designed to complement Dovetail’s flagship product, the Dovetail® Micro-C Assay, which according to the company provides the highest resolution view of the 3D genome. Cantata’s 3D genomics division aims to help researchers discover disease mechanisms by unpicking the spatial arrangement of DNA within the cell. |
Curio BioscienceCurio Bioscience has launched a pair of new products this year. In September it expanded its Curio Seeker product line with a larger format to deliver a more complete view of larger biological structures, including human tissue samples. The new Curio Seeker 10×10 spatial mapping kit provides 100x more data compared to other whole transcriptome spatial analysis solutions, according to the company. Soon after emerging from stealth in February, Curio launched Curio Seeker based on “slide-seq” spatial technology developed at the Broad Institute, offering high resolution due to its minute (10 microns) barcoded beads and limited diffusion. “Well over” 100 customers use the technology, Curio says. |
Lunaphore, a Bio-Techne BrandLunaphore’s success in bringing spatial technology into mainstream labs studying cancer and other diseases was confirmed when Bio-Techne acquired the Swedish tools developer for an undisclosed price, in a deal completed in July. Four months earlier, Lunaphore completed a CHF 40 million ($43.5 million) Series “D1” financing led by Ernst-Göhner Stiftung Beteiligungen (EGSB), with participation by existing investors PHC Holdings Corporation, Swiss Entrepreneurs Fund, OCCIDENT, and Redalpine. Lunaphore planned to use proceeds to strengthen its spatial biology portfolio and support commercial activity to address customer demand. Lunaphore also disclosed that its COMET™ instrument enjoyed a 350% jump in sales in 2022. |
NucleaiTel Aviv-based Nucleai is committed to advancing precision oncology and revolutionizing cancer care,” CEO and co-founder Avi Veidman told GEN. Nucleai has raised $46 million in total capital, sixth in GEN’s ranking of private spatial biology companies. In June, Nucleai partnered with Mayo Clinic BioPharma Diagnostics to develop digital pathology solutions, technologies, and services supporting drug development and clinical practice. A month earlier, Nucleai joined with Adlai Nortye to identify, validate, and test novel H&E-based biomarkers across Phase II and III clinical trials. |
Ochre BioOchre Bio develops RNA-based therapies for liver diseases, discovering the targets for its treatments by using spatial genomics (and single-cell sequencing data) derived from more than 1,000 donated human livers. In March, Ochre’s CEO and co-founder Jack O’Meara made Forbes’ “30 Under 30 Europe” list of the continent’s top younger business leaders. Ochre has raised $40 million in total capital, much of that from a $30 million Series A financing completed last year. Ochre’s name comes from one of three stop codons in the genome discovered by Sydney Brenner, PhD, co-winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. |
Pixelgen TechnologiesStockholm-based Pixelgen Technologies closed a Series A financing of about $7.3 million in October, led by new investor Industrifonden, Sweden’s venture capital fund, and seed round investor Navigare Ventures. Pixelgen has set an ambitious goal of becoming a category leader within spatial proteomics in the coming decade. A month earlier, Pixelgen shipped its first product to advance drug R&D in immunology, less than three years after its founding and less than a year after emerging from stealth mode. That product, Molecular Pixelation, is a DNA-based visualization technology for analyzing cell surface proteins, designed to gain novel insights into cellular activity, thus advancing better medicines and diagnostics. |
S2 GenomicsS2 Genomics has developed its Singulator™ 100 System, providing an automated method for harvesting single cells from solid tissue samples more reliably than current methods, while causing less stress to those cells. In July, researchers from Roche Pharma Research and Early Development published a study showing how Singulator 100 helped them carry out a versatile and partially automated protocol to obtain high-quality single nuclei from frozen mammalian tissues. The researchers successfully used that protocol on mouse brain, rat kidney, and cynomolgus liver and spleen tissue. |
References
1. Total capital disclosed by the company in the February 23, 2022, announcement of Spatial Genomics’ Series A financing. The company at deadline had not responded to GEN queries about any subsequent additional financing since then.
2. Total capital disclosed by RareCyte last year. Company at deadline had not responded to GEN queries seeking an updated total capital raised figure.
Alex Philippidis is senior business editor of GEN.
