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§ Private Profile · San Diego, CA, USA
Pleno is a technology company.
Pleno is a multidisciplinary team of scientists and technologists working together on our mission to build a groundbreaking multi-omic instrument platform that will revolutionize biological target detection for a wide array of meaningful applications.
Pleno has raised $80.0M across 3 funding rounds.
Pleno has raised $80.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Pleno has raised $80.0M across 3 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $25.0M Series B in December 2024.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 12, 2024 | $25M Series B | — | — | Announced |
| Oct 1, 2022 | $40M Series A | Deerfield Management | Foresite Capital, Krishna Yeshwant, Section 32 | Announced |
| May 25, 2022 | $15M Seed Plus | Medical Excellence Capital | — | Announced |
Pleno Inc. is a biotechnology company developing a multi-omic instrument platform that democratizes biological target detection for clinical testing and biomedical research, primarily targeting genomic testing challenges in oncology and beyond.[1][2][3] The company builds proprietary Hypercoding technology, which applies telecommunications signal processing to deliver high-scale, precise biological data, addressing high costs, complexity, and slow workflows of tools like Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), PCR, and microarrays.[1][3][6] It serves healthcare providers, researchers, and patients by enabling faster, more affordable genomic analysis to improve disease diagnosis, treatment recommendations, and personalized medicine penetration—currently limited despite ~2 million annual U.S. cancer cases.[3] Pleno has raised $80M total funding, including a $25M Series B in late 2024, signaling strong growth momentum toward commercial launch.[1][5]
Founded in 2017 in San Diego, California, Pleno was established by Pieter van Rooyen, who serves as CEO and brings expertise in telecommunications signal processing applied to biotech innovations.[5][1] The idea emerged from reimagining genomic testing workflows, leveraging telecom-derived coding techniques to overcome limitations in existing platforms like NGS, where sequencing costs are only a fraction of total expenses including turnaround time and complexity.[3][6] Early traction included an August 2022 venture equity investment from Deerfield Management, marking its entry into early-stage funding, followed by leadership expansions like VP of Software Jason Trachewsky and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board Professor Nambi Seshadri to accelerate Hypercoding development.[1][2][4] A pivotal $25M Series B in December 2024, led by investors valuing its commercial potential, appointed a new CEO from Illumina and propelled it toward market entry.[1][5]
Pleno stands out in multi-omics through these key strengths:
Pleno rides the multi-omics and personalized medicine wave, where genomics promises better outcomes but is bottlenecked by high costs and complexity—only a fraction of ~2M annual U.S. cancer cases receive testing despite proven benefits.[3] Timing is ideal amid declining sequencing costs yet persistent workflow barriers, positioning Hypercoding to expand market penetration across oncology, infectious diseases, and beyond, similar to how NGS disrupted diagnostics but fell short on scalability.[1][3] Favorable forces include rising demand for rapid, affordable biotech tools amid AI-biotech convergence and post-pandemic emphasis on precision health. Pleno influences the ecosystem by bridging telecom and biotech, potentially accelerating adoption of multi-omic platforms and inspiring hybrid tech transfers.[6]
Pleno is primed for commercial rollout post-2024 Series B, with Hypercoding enabling broader genomic testing uptake and new applications in clinical diagnostics.[1][5] Trends like AI-enhanced signal processing and cost pressures on legacy tools will shape its path, potentially capturing large untapped markets if it delivers on speed and scalability promises.[3] Its influence may evolve from innovator to ecosystem enabler, powering widespread personalized medicine as leadership expansions signal execution focus—echoing its mission to reimagine genomics from the ground up.[3][4]
Pleno has raised $80.0M in total across 3 funding rounds.
Pleno's investors include Deerfield Management, Foresite Capital, Krishna Yeshwant, Section 32, Medical Excellence Capital.