Diffinity Genomics, a biotechnology firm based in Rochester, closed a second round of funding in May that included support from the Allyn Family Capital Fund, LLC. Eric Allyn, a co-chairman of the board of directors at Skaneateles Falls–based Welch Allyn, has joined Diffinity’s board. It’s an important addition, Diffinity CEO Jeffrey Helfer says. “He brings a […]
Diffinity Genomics, a biotechnology firm based in Rochester, closed a second round of funding in May that included support from the Allyn Family Capital Fund, LLC.
Eric Allyn, a co-chairman of the board of directors at Skaneateles Falls–based Welch Allyn, has joined Diffinity’s board. It’s an important addition, Diffinity CEO Jeffrey Helfer says.
“He brings a lot of added value beyond the money,” Helfer says.
Allyn has contacts with potential suppliers and customers and Welch Allyn as a company understands product distribution well, Helfer notes. Diffinity develops products used in isolating and analyzing nucleic acids like DNA.
It’s work that life-sciences professionals perform on a regular basis. The company’s first two products are pipette tips used to move liquids in a laboratory setting.
The tips contain a proprietary material created using nanotechnology that allows for rapid purification of samples, according to Diffinity.
Helfer declined to disclose the exact amount of money raised in the financing round, but says it was seven figures. Diffinity will use the funding to continue ramping up its sales and manufacturing efforts.
Diffinity’s products are sold through distributors, but the company still needs internal staff to support them. The company expects to add three people in that area over the next year, Helfer says, and another one or two after that.
In manufacturing, the firm expects to add some additional equipment and plans to hire another two people in the next six months.
Diffinity employs 12 people companywide.
The company’s growth is being driven in part by the expansion of the life-sciences sector, Helfer says. Falling costs and improved equipment mean more and more people are sequencing DNA, he notes.
“This is now suddenly becoming more affordable and doable for more people,” he says. “But the pain points still remain.”
One of those pain points is speed. Diffinity’s products can purify samples in one minute. The purification process, essential to much research involving DNA, becomes easier, faster, and less expensive, Helfer says.
“We have a product that plays to a fundamental customer need,” he says. “It’s a pain point that is substantial and is not going to go away.”
Allyn says he came across Diffinity through contacts at the Cayuga Venture Fund in Ithaca, where he’s been involved as an investor in the past. He saw a product in a growth market with strong potential.
The type of lab work performed with Diffinity’s products is set for major growth in the years ahead, says Allyn, who is the founder and managing partner of Allyn Family Capital. And Diffinity’s products make that work more efficient.
“What I saw was some good technology and some good intellectual property,” Allyn says. “And I think they have a good team in place.”
Mass Med Angels, LLC was another key investor in Diffinity’s latest funding round. Diffinity also brought on another new director in addition to Allyn. Don Pogorzelski, previously president of Genzyme Diagnostics, has joined the firm’s board.
Diffinity, founded in 2005, has also received investment in the past from the Syracuse–based Seed Capital Fund of CNY, LLC. Diffinity’s technology was originally developed at the University of Rochester