Infectious disease diagnostics company Day Zero Diagnostics announced it has closed a $8.6 million Series A financing round led by healthcare-focused venture capital firm Triventures with additional funding from Sands Capital Ventures and Golden Seeds.
Day Zero, founded in 2016 by researchers from Harvard and Mass General Hospital, is developing a sequencing-based diagnostic platform that identifies both the species and the antibiotic resistance profiles of bacterial pathogens. The company says its test can be completed within hours, versus days for similar tests.
“We are excited to partner with investors who share our vision about the potential of genome sequencing and machine learning for changing the field of infectious diseases,” said Jong Lee, CEO and a co-founder of Day Zero, in a press release. “This funding allows us to continue our diagnostic system development effort and to expand our R&D program to additional use cases in infectious disease where speed and precision matter.”
The company’s core technologies leverage high-throughput sequencing methods combined with a machine learning algorithm for rapid analysis. The money raised will be used to further develop the company’s Blood2Bac bacterial DNA enrichment process along with its MicrohmDB database of whole-genome sequences of pathogens including their known antibiotic resistance profiles. These data feed into Day Zero’s machine learning algorithm called Keynome, which predicts the antibiotic resistance profiles of pathogens based on their genomic sequences.
Under the terms of the funding, Triventures’ Managing Partner Peter Fitzgerald, M.D., Ph.D., will gain a seat on the company’s board of directors.
“The team at Day Zero Diagnostics is one of the best we have seen, combining strategy driven leadership with world class technical talent,” said Fitzgerald. “As healthcare investors, we see the impact that antibiotic resistant organisms have throughout the healthcare system, and we are excited to invest in a company that has a clear vision for how digital technology and data can change the field.”
