Toronto-based genomic health software startup PhenoTips has secured a $2-million CAD seed extension to fuel its international expansion plans.
In an exclusive interview with BetaKit, PhenoTips co-founder and CEO Orion Buske said the healthtech company plans to use the financing to grow its presence in Canada and the United Kingdom (UK). The firm will also set itself up for expansion into the United States before moving into other countries across Europe and the Middle East.
Orion Buske,
“We want to move faster, and that is really hard in healthcare, and it’s really hard as first-time founders.”
PhenoTips
Buske and the PhenoTips team remain bullish on the potential for genetics and genome sequencing “to transform medicine and improve the quality of healthcare around the world.”
The CEO argued that a combination of declining costs and an increasing number of detectable diseases is evidence that the timing is right for healthcare systems to leverage genomics. He said he sees room for PhenoTips to provide the “genomic health record” and “missing layer” required to deliver that breakthrough.
PhenoTips’ all-equity, all-primary financing, which closed in July, was led by existing backer GreenSky Ventures with support from new investor the Ontario Centre of Innovation. Buske said it came at the same valuation as PhenoTips’ initial $2.5-million seed round in 2021, but did not share how the latest round valued the startup, which has raised $4.5 million to date.
“We want to move faster, and that is really hard in healthcare, and it’s really hard as first-time founders,” Buske said. “What this money is getting us is … it’s buying us some time and breathing room, buying us the ability to look more long term, and buying us some senior leadership to help us make the right choices.”
Born out of a University of Toronto and SickKids Hospital research project, PhenoTips was founded in 2014. The startup, formerly known as Gene42, sells software that helps healthcare providers and researchers collect and manage patient data around genetics. PhenoTips’ solution allows clinicians to easily record, standardize, and share data that helps gauge patients’ risks for hereditary conditions.
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Buske said that, since the seed round, PhenoTips has grown to one million patients in its system, tripled its annual recurring revenue, hit 20 employees, and secured 30 institutional customers across Canada, the UK, and Europe. These include hospitals, research programs, and genomics service providers.
GreenSky managing partner Marian Hoffmann claimed to BetaKit that GreenSky has already demonstrated strong product-market fit in both the UK and Canada.
Given its leadership in the rollout of genomic medicine at scale, the UK has become a focal point for PhenoTips and now accounts for the majority of the startup’s business. Buske said the UK’s healthcare system has similarities to Canada’s, and claimed coordination has made it easier to achieve alignment on large, ambitious projects.
Between this and ongoing US “turmoil and uncertainty,” the CEO expects more Canadian healthtech startups to follow suit and venture across the Atlantic before turning their attention south of the border.
“The timing is right for PhenoTips’ solution because clinical adoption of genomic health records continues to expand, partly driven by the increased digitization of the health care system and partly driven by government funding,” Hoffmann argued.He cited two examples of this, including the UK government’s push to integrate genomics into routine care through the Unified Genomic Record as well as major electronic health record providers increasingly expanding their genomics capabilities.
PhenoTips has also been carefully working to integrate artificial intelligence into its platform. The startup aims to support medical application coding and data transformation as it looks to free up more time for genetic counsellors. Buske said these workers often get saddled with the administrative and paperwork load, and would have more time to focus on counselling.
Feature image courtesy PhenoTips.