Benchling is based in San Fransisco and was founded in 2012 by Sajith Wickramasekara, Ashutosh Singhal and Cory Li of MIT. The company focuses on life science collaboration, both private and public, through creating cloud based software tools for digital DNA sequence editing, designing and running experiments, analyzing data, and sharing research.
Benchling software includes an electronic lab notebook that allows researchers to document their experiments. Benchling claims their notebook software reduces data entry time by up to 85%.
The molecular biology suite is an integrated, all in one, interface offering CRISPR guides, automation of primer designs, plasmid visualization, sequence alignment, and other relevant biological and chemical software tools.
The bioregistry is a fully integrated platform for creating, organizing, and documenting workflow for biologists, particularly for sequence editing and strain engineering. Benchling designed the bioregistry to track and assign features to organisms, import data from standardized databases, and give biologists the power to take notes within the bioregistry itself.
Bechling offers an inventory tracking system with their software. The system allows for the tracking of individual samples, containers, and instruments within the lab.
Benchling offers a workflow management systems that helps to design and manage work, provide feedback on progress, identify workflow bottlenecks, and improve decision making.
On December 1, 2012 Benchling became the first synthetic biology company to be backed by Y Combinator and received $900,000 in funding from: Y Combinator, FF Angel, Draper Associates, and other angel investors.
On April 15, 2015 Benchling raised $5,000,000 in seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital, and Kevin Mahaffey. The funding helped Benchling grow their software engineering and customer support teams.
On October 3, 2016 Benchling completed their series A funding round, raising $7,000,000 from Thrive Capital.
On November 16, 2016 Benchling announced its partnership with Gen9 — a company making making synthetic DNA. The partnerships between the two companies seeks to make it easier for customers to order large DNA libraries from Gen9 using Benchling's online software.
Timeline
On November 16, 2016 Benchling announced its partnership with Gen9 — a company making making synthetic DNA. The partnerships between the two companies seeks to make it easier for customers to order large DNA libraries from Gen9 using Benchlings online software.
On October 3, 2016 Benchling completed their series A funding round, raising $7,000,000 from Thrive Capital.
On April 15, 2015 Benchling raised $5,000,000 in seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital, and Kevin Mahaffey. The funding helped Benchling grow their software engineering and customer support teams.
On December 1, 2012 Benchling became the first synthetic biology company to be backed by Y Combinator and received $900,000 in funding from: Y Combinator, FF Angel, Draper Associates, and other angel investors.
Funding rounds
People
Adam Draper
Investor
Andrey Ivanov
Employee
Ashutosh Singhal
Augie Rakow
Attorney
Christopher Golda
Investor
David Wallerstein
Investor
Emoke Starr
Employee
Farbod Forouzin
Employee
Geoff Ralston
Investor
Hannah Shen
Employee
Henry Holbrook
Employee
Jeff Schox
Attorney
Joshua Ma
Employee
Jude Gomila
Investor
Kenneth B Hertz
Investor
Kevin Mahaffey
Investor
Lauren Chircus
Employee
Lauren Shields
Employee
Matt Huang
Investor
meekalbajaj
Employee
Michael Montano
Investor
Mike Zhu
Employee
Miles Grimshaw
Investor
Molly Davies
Employee
Nishant Neel
Employee
Further reading
Benchling Partners With Gen9 on DNA Library Design Tool as Software Suite Grows
Andrew Han
Benchling wants to become the Salesforce of biotech
Laura Lorenzetti
Google Docs for life sciences startup Benchling raises $7 million in growth funding from Thrive Capital
Sarah Buhr
The Boston University Center of Synthetic Biology (CoSBi) ICE Repository
Stephanie Paige, Sonya Iverson, Aaron Heuckroth, Swati Carr, Traci Haddock, Douglas Densmore
Academic paper
Documentaries, videos and podcasts
Benchling Review: Best Biotech Genome Research Software - AngelKings.com
July 3, 2015