Karius®, Inc., a world leader in genomic diagnostics for infectious disease, today announced it has secured $100 million in Series C funding. The round was co-led by Gilde Healthcare, Khosla Ventures and 5AM Ventures, and was joined by new investor Seventure and existing investors Softbank Vision Fund 2, General Catalyst, HBM and others.
This investment will enable Karius to extend its reach beyond the 400 U.S. hospitals currently using the Karius Test®, an infectious disease test that utilizes genomic analysis and artificial intelligence to detect over 1,000 pathogens from a single blood sample. The funding enables Karius to address increasing demand from healthcare providers to expand access to the Karius Test beyond the hospital setting. Additionally, it will support research into the broader health implications of microbial cell free DNA technology beyond infectious diseases.
“We are thrilled to partner with Karius and to support the company in its journey to help deliver better care at lower cost to some of the most vulnerable patients out there,” added Joep Muijrers, General Partner at Gilde Healthcare who will be joining Karius board.
“Every minute in the U.S., five cancer patients are admitted to the hospital due to infections—conditions that are often overshadowed by their primary diagnosis but are equally lethal, leading to nearly 1,000 deaths daily,” said Alec Ford, CEO of Karius. “This worrying reality emphasizes a critical and frequently overlooked gap in our healthcare system: the urgent need for faster diagnostic solutions. At Karius, we confront this challenge head-on. The Karius Test can reduce the time required to identify the cause of infections, as every minute counts for cancer patient survival.”
Karius’ Series C financing coincides with the positive results from the PICKUP1 trial, a landmark multi-center study enrolling 257 hospitalized adults with pneumonia and active hematologic malignancies across 10 leading medical centers, including Duke University Health, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and University of California, San Francisco Medical Center. When added to the standard of care workup, the Karius Test detected 40% more infections with a potential to change medical management for 81% of these cases, demonstrating a significant additive diagnostic value in patients with blood cancers or bone marrow transplants. This first-of-its-kind study underscores the Karius Test’s potential to transform the diagnostic journey and patient care.
About Karius
Karius Inc., a global leader in liquid biopsy for infectious diseases, harnesses metagenomics, next-generation sequencing, and artificial intelligence (AI) to help enhance the precision and speed of pathogen diagnosis. The Karius Test®, used in over 400 healthcare institutions–including 90+ transplant centers and 40+ children’s hospitals across the United States–identifies more than 1,000 pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites from a single blood draw typically within a day of sample receipt. A landmark study in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology found that the Karius Test detected 701 unique microbial taxa across a cohort of 15,000 patients, making it the largest study of its kind, demonstrating the capability of the Karius Test in pathogen identification. The Karius Test also has been incorporated into the diagnostics recommendations in the 2023 Duke-ISCVID Criteria for Infective Endocarditis. Learn more about Karius’ solutions for infectious disease diagnostics by visiting www.kariusdx.com.
About Gilde Healthcare
Gilde Healthcare is a specialized healthcare investor managing over €2.6 billion across two fund strategies: Venture&Growth and Private Equity. The Venture&Growth fund of Gilde Healthcare invests in fast growing companies active in therapeutics, medtech and digital health, based in Europe and North America. The Private Equity fund of Gilde Healthcare participates in profitable lower mid-market healthcare companies based in North-Western Europe. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.gildehealthcare.com.
