USA-based biosciences startup, TenSixteen jas raised $40 million in its Series A funding round from Foresite Capital and GV (formerly Google Ventures). This is the first institutional funding received by the startup.
The startup works on analysing cells, their division and mutation over time, and put their research into finding indicators of diseases like cancer. The study employed by the startup is called CHIP or clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential.
Working on this helps TenSixteen to tackle a number of age-related diseases. The startup is named after the number of times human cells divide in a lifetime, that is, roughly 10 raised to 16 times.
TenSixteen was founded by Mark Chao and Pradeep Natarajan. The former is a physician-scientist and former co-founder of Forty Seven. The immuno-oncology company was acquired for $4.9 billion by Gilead Sciences. The startup was Incubated by Foresite Labs.
Despite advances in the medical field, cardiovascular diseases and cancer remain the leading causes of morbidity around the world. With more understanding of CHIP, new paradigms in detection, prevention and treatments of such diseases can be found.
The company believes CHIP will be the way to develop new therapeutics for major and minor ailments. They plan to hold multiple clinical trials and receive approval for their treatments.