Solena’s team at Illumina’s 13th SF Funding Cycle
Solena undertakes a new challenge. Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) has selected seven genomics startups to join Illumina Accelerator’s 3rd global funding cycle. The company’s global company creation engine has been focused on creating partnerships with entrepreneurs in order to build innovative genomics startups, in this cycle, Illumina invested in four companies located in Cambridge, UK, and three companies at the San Francisco Bay Area.
The technology, structure, talent, and sales track that we have achieved throughout the last 3 years have caused incubators and international investors to find an opportunity in Solena to have a significant impact on agriculture profitability at a global scale.
Illumina Inc. works on integrated systems to analyze genetic variation and function and, through their support program for startups, Illumina Accelerator invests in a Latin-American company for the first time. Illumina Accelerator is a company creation engine co-located with Illumina research and development sites in the San Francisco Bay Area and Cambridge, UK. So far, they have invested in 61 genomics startups around the globe, which have collectively raised over $1 billion in venture capital funding.
We will participate in a six-month cycle during which Illumina Accelerator will provide us with access to seed investment, access to Illumina’s sequencing systems and reagents, as well as business guidance, genomics expertise, and fully operational lab space adjacent to the Illumina campus in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Solena is now the most important agricultural technology company in Mexico, rated in 2019 by Forbes magazine as one of the 30 most promising startups and as one of “LATAM Innovators under 35” by MIT Technology review. Our objective is to help farmers make the biological capital of the agricultural soil more profitable. That is, for them to require less traditional chemistry and nutritional salts that, in the long run, damage the soils in our land.
Currently, to achieve this goal we conduct a three-step process. First, we identify and measure concentrations of beneficial and pathogenic microorganisms in the soil. Then, we analyze these microorganisms and classify them according to their effect on different crops. Finally, we develop customized protocols of native microorganisms that can be re-inoculated and settled in the soil to improve its profitability.
With the tools and investments provided by Illumina Accelerator, we will strive to implement further innovation and development in the company’s processes to address and analyze the state of crop soil with better biotechnological tools. Thus, providing better solutions further adjusted to each farmer and crop’s needs and more affordable money-wise. Consequently, we can help them take advantage and improve the quality of the available biological capital.
