Samsung participates in US biotech company's $277 million investment

SEOUL: Samsung Electronics said on Friday it has participated in a Series D investment round for the US biotech company Element Biosciences as a strategic investor, expecting to create synergy in the potential medical and digital health care sectors.

Samsung Electronics joins other investors, including Fidelity and Foresite Capital, in the US company's $277 million Series D round, reports Yonhap news agency.

The South Korean tech giant said the investment will help it explore new business opportunities in a wide range of fields, from medical devices to digital health, by combining Element Bioscience's DNA analysis technology with its AI capabilities, medical devices and digital health technologies.

"Their products set a new industry standard and are foundational to the next wave of biological innovation," said Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee of Samsung. "We are incredibly excited about Element's vision to make precision medicine affordable and are impressed with the team they built together."

Founded in 2017, Element Bioscience is known for disruptive DNA sequencing and multi-omics technologies for the research market. It posted $25 million in sales last year.

DNA sequencing is a technology that determines the exact sequence of nucleotides, or bases, in a DNA molecule. The sequence of the bases, often called the blueprint of life, encodes the biological information that cells use to develop and operate.

In the future, DNA sequencing data will be combined with clinical data from hospitals and everyday life data, such as sleep and exercise, to enable personalised health care.