Alithea Genomics Closes CHF 6.9M Seed Round To Scale RNA-Seq For Drug Screening

The round was led by Genku Ventures, with participation from Novalis Biotech, Zürcher Kantonalbank, and several private investors.

Following the raise, Chairman Frederik Decouttere will become CEO, co-founder Riccardo Dainese will transition to Chief Commercial Officer, and board member Kaspar Binz will assume the role of Chairman.

The company plans to use the funding to accelerate commercialization of its 1,536-well MERCURIUS™ DRUG-seq kits, advance new technology development, and build proprietary transcriptomic datasets to support AI and machine learning initiatives.

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Founded in 2020 at EPFL in Lausanne, Alithea develops massively multiplexed RNA library preparation technologies, including BRB-seq and DRUG-seq, enabling up to 1,536 RNA samples to be prepared for sequencing in a single tube without RNA isolation in the case of DRUG-seq.

“As Alithea continues to innovate, expanding product commercialization with new innovative RNA sample prep kits to disrupt the genomic research sector, we have transitioned my operational role to CEO, enabling Riccardo to fully focus on commercial and business development, ensuring we meet the needs of our customers,” said Mr. Decouttere.

“This new funding will enable Alithea to unlock the full potential of our unique RNA-based technology platforms to a scale and price point that are unique to our industry. In a world where the impact of AI becomes more visible every single day and where high quality data is key to further improve AI models, Alithea’s RNA-seq platforms are set to accelerate our customer’s research, toxicology and screening projects significantly. We’d like to thank all of our investors for their continued support and confidence in Alithea.”

About Alithea Genomics

Alithea Genomics is committed to developing solutions that simplify and streamline the generation of "big RNA data", which we believe will constitute the foundation of tomorrow's research and medicine. Their RNA-seq technologies and kits enable researchers to discover novel biomarkers and essential data needed to develop new drugs at a fraction of the traditional cost and time.