A series of announcements in recent weeks shows just how much the spatial biology field has matured in the years since Nature Methods recognized spatial biology—which it called spatially resolved transcriptomics—as its Method of the Year 2020.
Recent news about research institutions
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in September appointed computational biologist Linghua Wang, MD, PhD, to co-lead a focus area within its Institute for Data Science in Oncology dedicated to using single-cell spatial omics to unveil the complexity of cancer biology and thus explore new opportunities for cancer therapeutics. Wang was also appointed to join MD Anderson’s James P. Allison Institute as an associate member based on her expertise in spatial biology and the tumor microenvironment.
Beyond the United States, Australia’s Colonial Foundation gave A$21 million ($14 million) in September to launch a namesake Diagnostics Center that will apply spatial biology toward enhanced diagnoses and thus more personalized care for patients with inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. The Center is co-led by the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Recent news about business developments
The top two private companies in spatial biology based on their total capital raised, Vizgen and Ultivue, merged in October into a single entity that aspires to be a powerhouse in the field by offering both single-cell spatial genomics and multiplex proteomic profiling technologies to customers engaged in foundational and clinical research.
The Vizgen-Ultivue merger reflects continuing consolidation in spatial biology, as does Bruker’s acquisition of NanoString Technologies by placing the winning $392.6 million bid for the company at a bankruptcy court auction earlier this year. Bio-Techne kicked off the current round of mergers and acquisitions last year by snapping up Swiss-based Lunaphore.
Healthy signs at public and private companies
Those events have reshaped part of GEN’s spatial biology A-List, which has been updated every year since it first appeared in 2021. Reflecting the relative health of the spatial biology field, this year’s A-List shows that the revenues for the top five public companies in spatial biology have climbed a healthy 21% year over year, to just under $3.116 billion between January 2023 and June of this year, from about $2.612 billion between January 2022 and June 2023. Total capital raised by the top five private companies climbed 15.5% year over year, to more than $591 million this year from more than $511.5 million in 2023.
This A-List actually encompasses two lists—one for public companies, and one for private companies. (The online version of this A-List actually also encompasses a third list—one for “up and coming” companies of note.)
Public companies are ranked by their combined revenues for 2023 and the first half of 2024, 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. Companies that failed to respond at deadline have been ranked according to their most recently published figures for total capital raised.
Top Public Companies |
1. Bruker (BSI Nano segment)Revenue: $492.9 million in Q1–Q2 2024; $941.9 million in 2023 Bruker signaled growing interest in spatial biology October 9 by announcing its new Bruker Spatial Biology division, within the Bruker Scientific Instruments Nano Segment. Five months earlier, Bruker acquired NanoString Technologies at a bankruptcy court auction with the winning $392.6 million bid. During its Q2 earnings call in August, Bruker chairman, president, and CEO Frank H. Laukien, PhD, told analysts: “We continue to anticipate a NanoString revenue run rate of about $10 million/month for fiscal year 2024, and we expect a solid rebound and significant step-up in 2025.” By then, Laukien said, Bruker expects to benefit from facility consolidation, insourcing of production for the CosMx Spatial Molecular Imager, “very meaningful” cloud software savings, and “many other growth and cost benefits.” |
2. 10x GenomicsRevenue: $294.110 million in Q1–Q2 2024; $618.727 million in 2023 10x Genomics shares tumbled 25% October 10 after reporting preliminary third-quarter revenue of $151.7 million, 1% below Q3 2023 and 6.5% below a Wall Street consensus forecast of $162.26 million. 10x blamed a realignment of U.S. sales representatives and slower customer spending. “We take comfort that it is neither a demand nor competitive issue,” Jefferies analyst Tycho Peterson wrote. In March, 10x commercially launched Visium HD (a new version of its Visium Spatial Gene Expression product), enabling researchers to measure the whole transcriptome from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue sections at single-cell resolution. Visium HD can detect 11 million features in a continuous grid pattern of 2 μm squares, vs. 5,000 features detectable in a hexagonal arrangement of 55 μm spots for the earlier version. |
3. Bio-Techne (Diagnostics and Genomics segment)Revenue: $326.392 million (fiscal year ending June 30, 2024); $154.695 million (January–June 2023) Bio-Techne cemented its position as a spatial biology leader by acquiring Lunaphore for $169.7 million last year—just three months after the companies began partnering to develop the first fully automated spatial multiomics workflow with same-slide hyperplex detection of protein and RNA biomarkers. Spatial biology is a division within Bio-Techne’s Diagnostics and Genomics segment, but division revenues are not disclosed individually. Last month, Bio-Techne announced that Discovery Life Sciences had added Lunaphore’s COMET spatial biology platform to Discovery’s global suite of biospecimen products and specialty laboratory services designed to support clinical research customers. In March, Bio-Techne partnered with Nikon Instruments to expand access to COMET for U.S.-based biotech, pharma, and academic customers. |
4. Standard BioToolsRevenue: $82.745 million in Q1–Q2 2024; $106.340 million in 2023 A year after launching the Hyperion XTi Imaging System and promising that it would provide the “highest data quality available in spatial proteomics and industry-leading shortest time to results,” Standard BioTools in April added automation and greater flexibility to the system’s Imaging Mass Cytometry (IMC) workflow by offering three modes for rapid and detailed spatial biology analysis: Preview Mode for quick whole slide overviews; Tissue Mode for whole slide imaging in real time; and Cell Mode to analyze regions of interest at single-cell resolution. Standard says that novel whole slide imaging using IMC allows users to garner the most data out of limited samples with up to 10 times higher throughput than cyclic immunofluorescent imaging. |
5. Akoya BiosciencesRevenue: $41.514 million in Q1–Q2 2024; $96.633 million in 2023 Akoya Biosciences said October 7 that its PhenoCycler Fusion and PhenoImager HT spatial proteomics platforms will analyze tissue samples under the MANIFEST (Multiomic Analysis of Immunotherapy Features Evidencing Success and Toxicity) program, a U.K. effort designed to advance cancer immunotherapy research through deep multiomic profiling. The multimillion-dollar effort is funded by the U.K. Office of Life Sciences and the Medical Research Council. Two days earlier, Akoya’s board named a new chairman, Scott Mendel, a board member since 2021. He previously served as president and CEO of GenMark Diagnostics until its acquisition by Roche for $1.8 billion. |
Top Private Companies |
1. Vizgen (merged with Ultivue)Total Capital Raised: “More than” $250 million Vizgen cemented its leadership spot among private spatial biology companies on October 9, when it announced a merger with Ultivue. Rob Carson, the merged Vizgen’s president and CEO (and previously Ultivue’s president and CEO), told GEN that the combined company—which carries the Vizgen name—will build upon its namesake predecessor’s expertise in single-cell spatial genomics and Ultivue’s leadership in multiplex proteomic profiling. The new Vizgen also aims to grow its presence in clinical laboratory settings while continuing to serve customers in research institutions and biopharmaceutical companies. “For spatial analysis to reach its full potential, it’s going to have to reach the point of having clinical utility,” Carson told GEN. |
2. Resolve BiosciencesTotal Capital Raised: “More than $100 million”1 Resolve Biosciences expressed pride in August that its Molecular Cartography platform was used in a study that detailed gene expression changes in atrial tissue, highlighting inflammatory microvascular dysfunction in ischemic heart disease. Corresponding author Manolis Kellis, PhD, of MIT and the Broad Institute, and colleagues concluded that investigation of human cardiovascular disease should expand to all functionally important parts of the heart, to help identify mechanisms promoting more severe types of the disease. Also in August, Resolve’s chief business officer, Kieren Patel, PhD, posted on X that the company sought to fill several open positions with “super creative, high energy, curious phenotypes who love to play with things.” |
3. RareCyteTotal Capital Raised: $125 million RareCyte in June completed a $20 million financing from new and existing investors that the company expects will enable it to expand its Orion spatial biology platform, including commercializing new multiplex assays, reagent products, and software applications. The funding is also intended to expand RareCyte’s commercial activity outside the United States, and to help the company’s Precision Biology Services division provide spatial biology and liquid biopsy assays, which will leverage the company’s Seattle-based laboratories and scientific personnel to satisfy CLIA and ISO 13485 certifications. In April, Navigate BioPharma Service agreed to use Orion to provide multiplex spatial biology assay services such as rapid, whole-slide imaging and analysis of tissue sections at subcellular resolution. |
4. NucleaiTotal Capital Raised: $60 million Nucleai provides artificial intelligence (AI)-based spatial biomarkers leveraging military intelligence–grade geospatial analytical methods to intercept, interpret, and analyze complex cellular conversations and spatially oriented interactions within tissue samples, for translation into actionable insights by pathologists and clinicians. In June, Proscia, a developer of AI-based pathology solutions, agreed to integrate Nucleai’s predictive biomarker solutions into Proscia’s Concentriq software platform and offer them via Proscia’s precision medicine AI portfolio. In March, M Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, led a $14 million investment in Nucleai to support the deployment of the company’s AI algorithms for enrolling prospective patients in clinical trials. |
5. Spatial GenomicsTotal Capital Raised: $56 million2 Spatial Genomics has been quiet in recent months, but it had plenty to announce last year when it launched its Gene Positioning System (GenePS) tool. According to the company, GenePS is the first confocal end-to-end solution for spatial multiomics assays based on sequential fluorescence in situ hybridization technology, an advanced biomolecular analysis method that merges imaging with molecular barcoding to enable highly multiplexed single-cell analyses of RNA, DNA, and protein. GenePS is designed to facilitate imaging and decoding complex molecular identities and locations directly within single cells and intact tissue microenvironments. |
Up & Comers |
AlpenGlow BiosciencesSeattle-based AlpenGlow Biosciences said in August it won a total up to $23 million in federal contracts. As part of the Biden administration’s Cancer Moonshot initiative, AlpenGlow’s scientific co-founder Jonathan T.C. Liu, PhD, of the University of Washington was awarded a five-year, up-to-$21-million contract from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to develop a platform technology for precision tumor removal. AlpenGlow also received a $2 million Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from the NIH toward development of prostate cancer diagnostics with CorePlus, a digital pathology laboratory based in Puerto Rico. The company also won $1 million in investment led by Dynamk Capital and angel investor Paul McEwan to further develop its Aurora™ platform for tissue-to-insights solutions leveraging 3D spatial biology. |
Curio BioscienceCurio Bioscience on October 8 launched its Curio Trekker single-cell spatial mapping kit, designed to convert single-cell genomics measurements into tissue-specific spatial data. The kit is designed to let researchers capture the spatial context of cell populations in an easy-to-use, one-hour workflow without specialized instrumentation or personnel. When combined with single-cell and single-nuclei analyses, the Palo Alto, CA, company says, researchers can use Curio Trekker to carry out precise tissue reconstruction at single-cell resolution. Designed as a simple reagent kit, Curio Trekker builds upon the Slide-tags technology developed by Curio’s co-founders at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and published in Nature last December. |
Kanvas BiosciencesKanvas Biosciences brought its total capital raised to $29.5 million in July when it raised $12.5 million in funding co-led by DCVC and Lions Capital. The Monmouth Junction, NJ-based company said it will use the proceeds to further develop its spatial biology platform as well as advance two preclinical programs: its lead immuno-oncology drug candidate KAN-001, designed to treat cancer in patients resistant to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs); and its newest immuno-oncology candidate KAN-003, designed to treat ICI-naïve cancers. Kanvas envisions submitting an Investigational New Drug (IND) filing for KAN-001 next year. |
MGI Tech and Complete GenomicsAt “The Future of Omics,” a conference it hosted in September, Shenzhen, China-based MGI Tech showcased its combination offering of spatial omics with single-cell omics, short-read and long-read sequencing, and a variety of sequencing throughputs and read lengths, which chief scientific officer Radoje (Rade) Drmanac, PhD, of MGI and its U.S. subsidiary Complete Genomics calls SEQ ALL. “Together, these technologies define a new generation of MPS [massively parallel sequencing, MPS 2.0] and set a new standard in WGS [whole genome sequencing, CompleteWGS].” At the conference, MGI introduced Stereo-seq Transcriptomics Solution v1.3 (Stereo-seq v1.3), designed with nanoscale resolution to address spatial biology questions in depth. Drmanac discussed the companies’ new technologies during a GEN Chat webinar in August. |
Ochre BioOchre Bio’s computational/multi-omic discovery platform is being applied by Boehringer Ingelheim to develop novel first-in-class regenerative treatments for late-stage metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), cirrhosis, and other chronic liver diseases. The collaboration, launched in April, could generate $1 billion-plus for Ochre, an Oxford, U.K.-based developer of RNA-based liver treatments. Boehringer plans to identify, characterize, and validate multiple novel regenerative targets for treatments that prevent or reverse disease progression by enhancing the liver’s self-repair capabilities. Two months later, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) agreed to generate proprietary human liver datasets using Ochre’s computational biology, cellular, and perfused human organ platforms, in an up-to-$37.5 million partnership that grants GSK non-exclusive access to Ochre’s library of historical liver data. |
Pixelgen TechnologiesOver the summer, Stockholm-based Pixelgen Technologies released its next-generation Single Cell Spatial Proteomics Kit, Immunology Panel 2, Human v2 (MPX v2), designed for enhanced cell surface protein phenotyping and colocalization analysis. According to the company, MPX v2 delivers a 3.7-fold increase in signal-to-noise ratio, 2.2 times more data per cell, and stronger antibody performance than Pixelgen’s first commercial product. Researchers applied the earlier-generation MPX to demonstrate a new sequencing-based method for identifying the relative locations of highly-multiplexed immunologically relevant proteins in single cells, an advance detailed in Nature Methods. In February, Pixelgen inked distribution agreements with partners in Japan for its spatial proteomics tools, and in Australia and New Zealand for the MPX kits. |
Waypoint BioThree years after winning one of five “Golden Tickets” from Bristol Myers Squibb, Waypoint Bio raised a $14.5 million seed funding in June toward designing chimeric antigen receptor t-cell (CAR-T) therapies for solid tumors, followed by regulatory t-cell (Treg) therapies for autoimmune diseases. The New York-based company uses in vivo spatial pooled screening technology to develop cell therapies. “Using spatial biology, we’re able to read out not only which assets show efficacy in vivo, but also why these assets succeed or fail, and which assets match the phenotypes observed from patient samples,” stated David Phizicky, PhD, Waypoint’s co-founder and chief scientific officer. |
References
1. Figure disclosed by Resolve Biosciences on the Investors page of its website. At deadline, Resolve had not responded to GEN queries seeking to confirm its total capital raised.
2. 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 additional financing since then.
