A WA biotech startup tapping into patients’ genetic profiles to help tailor treatment has become the fourth venture backed by WA’s first early-stage venture capital fund, Purpose Ventures.
After announcing investments into PlanCare and Paperly in July, then IDEAcademy last month, the $45M fund has landed on its next investment, Gene S.
Launched in 2020, the company has developed genetic technology that helps medical professionals prescribe medication more accurately and at the optimum dosage.
The technology analyses a person’s unique genetic profile with hopes of improving treatment effectiveness and alleviating the side effects of drugs.
Improving prescription accuracy could save governments billions of dollars every year in healthcare costs, according to Gene S.
In a statement on social media, Purpose Ventures highlighted that the investment aimed at better health outcomes for patients as well as more cost savings. The fund had earlier announced that 15% of its fund was to be carved out into the health and medical field.
The early-stage venture capital fund has also committed to backing WA-founded or operated companies with at least 70% of its funds.
“We’re backing founders Svetlana Baltic, Suzanna Lindsey-Temple and the team to build the next generation of precision medicine,” the statement read.
“We have lots of verticals but starting with mental health where first drug use is wrong 50% of the time.”
The latest investment from Purpose Ventures follows an announcement in October that the capital fund had backed a local female-founded and led WA startup, IDEAcademy.
Purpose Ventures, with some assistance from the state government, was the first WA fund to gain early-stage venture capital limited partnership (ESVCLP) status in February 2023. ESVCLPs hold certain tax advantages for limited partners (investors), and there are 113 of them set up and running over east.
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