糖心视频

aims to make every human鈥檚 gut healthy through its direct-to-consumer custom probiotics solution, and thanks to a Series A has more investor dollars to put toward that mission.

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The company鈥檚 flagship product is Flor茅, a microbiome test and gut probiotics solution that uses whole-genome sequencing to evaluate samples, then recommends personalized products based on users鈥� unique gut profiles, , founder and CEO of Sun Genomics, told Crunchbase News. The company also has a digestive powder product for children called Flor茅 Tots.

led the first closing of the San Diego-based company鈥檚 $8.65 million Series A round, with additional investments from , , and Nascita Ventures. SOSV led Sun Genomics鈥� in 2019, and with the new cash infusion, the company鈥檚 is $11.75 million to date, Jain said.

As part of the investment, , founding general partner at Pangaea Ventures, has joined as a new board member.

The National Institutes of Health defines the as 鈥渢he collection of all the microorganisms living in association with the human body,鈥� and there are about 鈥攇ood and bad鈥攍iving in your gut. Many people use supplements, such as probiotics, to help maintain good gut health.

Jain began looking at probiotics back in 2014, trying to find a solution for his son who, at the time, was experiencing gastrointestinal issues.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 realize how many people had this same issue,鈥� he said. 鈥淎bout 70 million people suffer from this each year. Many have gone to their doctors and are using medication or probiotics, but are still having symptoms.鈥�

Sun Genomics, founded in 2016, was the first to market with personalized probiotic solutions based on whole-genome sequencing diagnostics, Jain said. Around the same time, startups with similar offerings arrived on the scene as well, but at different success levels. Bellevue, Washington-based has since raised a total of in venture-backed funds while Sunnyvale, California-based has raised .

With plans to go after the , which is estimated to reach $1.7 billion by 2027, Sun Genomics will use this new round of funding to support its growth in the custom probiotics market, scale delivery across the U.S., enter international markets, and propel the publication of its studies in partnership with leading academic institutions.

Sun Genomics has already added four new people over the past month and Jain said he expects to bring on two more hires this year, including a vice president of growth. He also plans to grow headcount by 25 percent next year as well.

鈥淲e used to be a small food brand, but we are scaling operations, building a community around what we are doing, and we now have a chance to push out our products more broadly,鈥� Jain said. 鈥淏efore, we focused on the testing, but this new funding will help us gain awareness about what we are doing.鈥�

Photo courtesy of Sun Genomics
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