Seattle-based NanoString Technologies has pulled in another $15.3 million in investment cash to help build momentum for its new foray into the molecular diagnostic business.
NanoString said Monday it took in $15.3 million in a Series E sale of preferred stock. Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and AllianceBernstein Alternative Investment Management Group led the new investment. All of NanoString’s previous backers joined the financing, including Clarus Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, OVP Venture Partners, GE’s healthymagination Fund, BioMed Ventures, and former Genzyme CEO Henri Termeer.
The company, a spinoff from the Institute for Systems Biology, has been selling its genetic analysis tool to biomedical researchers since 2008. Led by former Genzyme executive Brad Gray, the company has spent the last two years growing that side of the business, while seeking to branch out into diagnostics. In September, it won clearance in the European Union to start selling its nCounter device to help diagnose women with breast cancer, and it is seeking the regulatory green light in the U.S. NanoString has said it is working on securing reimbursement for its instrument from health authorities in Europe, and hopes to begin marketing the tool for that purpose in early 2013.
NanoString previously raised a $20 million venture round in November 2011, and a $30 million round in June 2009.
