Benchling Raises $34.5M Series C To Fuel Life Sciences R&D

Menlo Ventures leads Series C to power global expansion, extend product lead and deepen commercial relationships to accelerate biotech breakthroughs

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Benchling

Jul 24, 2019, 09:00 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, July 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Benchling, the leading life sciences R&D cloud platform, announced it closed $34.5 million in Series C funding led by Menlo Ventures with new investors Lead Edge Capital and Y Combinator Continuity as well as returning investors Benchmark and Thrive Capital. This round comes after the company recently tripled revenue and customers, winning over one hundred new industry and institutional clients since closing its Series B a year ago. The company will use the investment to grow globally, extend its product lead and expand commercial relationships to enable breakthrough biotech innovations faster than ever before.

"Life science R&D has become incredibly complex -- from the molecules to the processes to the multi-dimensional data. Until Benchling, there had been no end-to-end, purpose-built SaaS application to enhance, streamline, and drive collaboration across R&D teams. Biologics are the future of life sciences and the faster that innovation gets to market, the more society benefits," said Matt Murphy, Partner at Menlo Ventures. "Benchling's software replaces pen and paper workflows and becomes the system of record for a wide range of biotech and pharma R&D projects -- from medicine and cancer treatment to plant-based meat and sustainable materials. Saji and team's first-hand experience in life sciences, combined with their passion for building better software to accelerate innovation, has delivered a game-changing platform for leading commercial and academic institutions."

Since launching in 2012, Benchling has grown to become the most widely adopted life science R&D cloud software used by over 170,000 scientists worldwide. Customers include the world's most renowned academic labs at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Berkeley, to life science industry leaders such as Zoetis, Beam Therapeutics, Zymergen and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Scientists working in cutting-edge fields like CRISPR, CAR-T immunotherapy and genetic engineering depend on Benchling's suite of cloud applications to design DNA, collaborate on experiments, manage research workflows and make critical R&D decisions.

"Benchling was created for today's researchers who are working on tomorrow's science, allowing them to focus on achieving the next breakthrough outcomes," said Sajith Wickramasekara, co-founder and CEO at Benchling. "The next generation of scientists is already on Benchling and at the forefront of establishing the future of the life science and biotech industries. We'll use this investment to support deeper engagements with large commercial customers and bring the power of the cloud to tackle the complexity of biotech."

Scientists and R&D organizations have embraced the platform. Benchling has achieved a 90 percent user adoption rate while legacy platforms typically languish unused. In the last 12 months, Benchling has also seen 130% revenue growth in existing customers, as clients expand and deepen their relationship with the platform.

"Zymergen is unlocking new sources of molecular diversity to help engineer new products from biomaterials to pharmaceuticals," said Jed Dean, co-founder and VP of Operations & Engineering at Zymergen. "As a technology leader ourselves, we were looking for a software platform that is leading the way in facilitating cutting-edge science. Benchling has been an invaluable technology partner as we've scaled our business. It has advanced data-sharing, innovation, and collaboration across our teams."

About Benchling
Benchling is the first R&D cloud platform powering the life science industry and helping the next generation of scientists make breakthrough discoveries faster than ever before. Replacing outdated pen and paper processes, Benchling offers unified R&D solutions purpose-built for biotech, including Notebook, Molecular Biology, Registry, Inventory, and Request & Workflow Management. Benchling is used by over 170,000 scientists globally across the largest multinational pharmaceutical corporations, emerging biotechnology companies, and major research institutions. For more information, please visit https://www.benchling.com.

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SOURCE Benchling