St. Louis-based medical technology startup Pierian has been acquired in a deal that creates a new company focused on advancing the use of precision medicine in health care.
Boston-based Velsera announced its launch Thursday, saying it has acquired Pierian (formerly PierianDx) and two other medical technology companies to begin operations. Financial terms of Velsera’s acquisitions were not disclosed.
Pierian launched in 2014, spun out of Washington University, and is headquartered at 6 City Place Drive in Creve Coeur. It provides software and services for clinical genomic analysis to treat complex diseases. It says its technology is used by health care providers, laboratories and medical centers to tailor care for patients around precision medicine. Pieran didn't immediately respond to questions about its headcount and the future of its St. Louis office.
With the acquisition, Pierian is now part of a larger company that’s formed to provide technology and tools to help health care providers use data and analysis to treat patients. The St. Louis startup is one of three medical technology companies acquired to launch Velsera, joining Boston-based Seven Bridges and UgenTec, which was founded in Belgium and has operations in the U.S. Velsera said in a news release that the three companies will continue to work with their existing customers while also focusing on bolstering their products and creating new technology and services focused on precision medicine.
“As Velsera, we will catalyze the conversion of siloed, global data into insights from clinical and R&D settings to reveal the true promise of precision medicine,” Velsera CEO Gavin Nichols said in a statement. “We will provide a continuous flow of knowledge among researchers, scientists and clinicians around the world to accelerate the impact of research, expand access to clinical care, and radically improve human health.”
Velsera has launched operations with financing backing from Summa Equity, a private equity firm based in Norway. It announced its formation Thursday at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.
The sale of Pierian comes after the startup, led by CEO Mark McDonough, raised funding in recent years to fuel expansion of its team and technology. That includes a $27 million Series B funding round in 2019 and $47.5 million secured in 2021 through equity investment and a term loan facility.
In addition to its St. Louis headquarters, Pierian has an office in Pune, India.
