Funding profile · African genomics
54gene
Two Form D filings account for $43.8 million of the roughly $45 million 54gene is reported to have raised. The larger of the two was sized for a round that never finished, and it was never amended.
$45MTotal raised, as reported across three rounds
$43.77MSold across the two Form D filings on EDGAR
$12.39MLeft unsold on the Sep 2021 offering, never amended
$3.0MReported asking price for the biodata of 100,000 Nigerians, 2025
Data as of September 22, 2026. Company-reported figures are labeled.
Rounds at a glance
| When | Round | Amount | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2019 | Y Combinator, Winter 2019 | $150,000 | Y Combinator | Reported |
| Jul 2019 | Seed | $4.5M | Y Combinator, Fifty Years, Better Ventures, KdT Ventures, Hack VC, Techammer | Reported |
| Apr 2020 | Series A | $15M announced; $18,651,384 sold at filing | Led by Adjuvant Capital, itself backed by the Gates Foundation, Novartis and IFC | Form D + release |
| Sep 2021 | Series B | $25M announced; $25,119,754 sold of $37,509,818 offered | Led by Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund; Adjuvant Capital, KdT Ventures, Plexo Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, Ingressive Capital | Form D + release |
| Late 2022 | Bridge and loan facility | Not disclosed; a $2.4M loan is described in the founder’s 2025 petition | Adjuvant Capital and Cathay AfricInvest, per the petition | Court filing, reported |
| 2019 to 2021 | Reported cumulative | About $45M | Figure used by the company and by every outlet covering the wind down | Company-stated |
What the filings show
54Gene, Inc. · Form D · filed Sep 24, 2021
- First sale
- Sep 8, 2021
- Offered
- $37,509,818 · equity and options to acquire
- Sold
- $25,119,754 · $12,390,064 remaining
- Investors
- 27 · average about $930,000
- Exemption
- Rule 506(b) · no non-accredited investors
- Related persons
- Abasi Ene-Obong (executive officer, director, promoter); Delali Attipoe (executive officer, director); Jenny Yip, Olufunmilayo Falusi Olopade, Patrice Milos, Yassine Oussaifi (directors)
- Issuer
- Washington, DC · Delaware corporation, incorporated 2019
- Filing
- SEC EDGAR, CIK 0001809111, accession 0001809111-21-000004
Stack Diagnostics, Inc. · Form D · filed Apr 14, 2020
- First sale
- Apr 1, 2020
- Offered
- $21,526,703 · equity
- Sold
- $18,651,384 · $2,875,319 remaining
- Investors
- 23 · average about $811,000
- Exemption
- Rule 506(b) · no non-accredited investors
- Related persons
- Abasi Ene-Obong (executive officer, director, promoter); Delali Attipoe (executive officer, director); Jenny Yip (director)
- Issuer
- San Francisco, CA · later renamed 54Gene, Inc. on the same CIK
- Filing
- SEC EDGAR, CIK 0001809111, accession 0001809111-20-000001
Reading the filings
- The filed total is below the headline.$18,651,384 plus $25,119,754 is $43,771,138. The widely used figure is $45 million, and one contemporaneous account put it at $44.7 million. The $4.5 million seed of July 2019 and the Y Combinator cheque have no Form D on this CIK, so the filings are not a complete map of the capital.
- The Series A sold more than it announced.The release said $15 million. The Form D filed the same day reports $18,651,384 sold to 23 investors, about $811,000 each. The $3,651,384 difference is not explained in the filing. Earlier notes converting into the round would be an ordinary explanation, and the filing does not say so.
- The Series B was sized for a round that never finished.$37,509,818 was offered and $25,119,754 was sold, leaving $12,390,064 open. No amendment was ever filed, so on EDGAR that offering still shows as live five years later. The announced number, $25 million, matches what actually sold, not what was sought.
- The issuer filed under a different name first.EDGAR carries Stack Diagnostics, Inc. as a former name on CIK 0001809111, San Francisco in April 2020 and Washington, DC by September 2021. That matches the published account that the company began as a diagnostics business called Stack Dx before pivoting to biobanking.
- The board doubled between the two filings.Three related persons in 2020, six in 2021. October 2022 reporting identified Jenny Yip as managing partner of Adjuvant Capital and 54gene board chair; the Series B release identified Yassine Oussaifi as a partner at Cathay AfricInvest. The two preferred directors described in the 2025 petition line up with those seats.
- Nothing was filed after September 2021.The late 2022 bridge, the markdown to a $50 million valuation and the loan facility described in the founder’s petition generate no Form D. Debt outside Regulation D, or a raise under Section 4(a)(2), requires none, so the silence on EDGAR is not evidence that nothing happened.
Commercial signals
| Signal | Detail | Source type |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | Over $20 million from COVID testing, per two sources with first-hand knowledge. Both Form Ds decline to disclose a revenue range. | Unnamed sources |
| Diagnostics | Seven River Labs launched December 2021 with collection centres in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt. De-emphasised in October 2022. | Independent |
| Headcount | Over 300 in early 2022, 95 cut in August, 39 by year end, under 30 by March 2023. | Independent |
| Valuation | Marked to $50 million in the late 2022 bridge from $175 million in one account and $170 million in another. No filing states a valuation. | Figures differ |
| Assets | Biobank of roughly 130,000 participant samples. Biodata of 100,000 Nigerians listed at $3 million in the 2025 sale process, blocked by injunction in the Federal High Court in Lagos. | Court filing, reported |
| Scientific output | Nature Genetics comment, May 2022. Cell Genomics paper on 449 whole genomes, September 2023. Raw data at the European Genome-phenome Archive, EGAS00001007036, controlled access. | Public record |
| Non-dilutive funding | No NIH, NSF, FDA or registered trial record found under the company name. | Not found |
What to watch
- Judgment in the Lagos proceeding, and whether the injunction on the asset sale survives it.
- Any amended Form D closing out the September 2021 offering, which would settle the $12.39 million question.
- Who ends up holding the biobank, and under what stewardship terms.
- Whether the New Jersey employment suit brought by the former general counsel produces a public outcome.
- Form D filings by Syndicate Bio, the founder’s successor company, launched September 2023.
The 54gene story on Healthcare DiscoveryHealthcare Discovery
Related companies
Sources
- Public recordForm D, 54Gene, Inc., CIK 0001809111
- Public recordForm D, Stack Diagnostics, Inc., CIK 0001809111
- Public recordWhole-genome sequencing across 449 samples spanning 47 ethnolinguistic groups
- IndependentNigerian court blocks sale of 54gene’s assets
- IndependentExclusive: After raising $45m in two years, 54Gene is shutting down
- IndependentAfrican genomics startup 54gene raises $15M led by Adjuvant Capital
- Peer reviewedWhen genomics companies act as biobanks: governance challenges in an era of genomic assetization
- Company54gene Closes $25M Series B to Advance Global Drug Discovery Capabilities
Compiled from SEC and other public records and published reports as of September 22, 2026. Form D notices report offerings under Regulation D; amounts reflect the filing date and may not capture later sales. Allegations described on this page come from a pending petition in the Federal High Court in Lagos and have not been tested in court. Healthcare Venture Capital Fund holds no position in 54gene. This page is not an offer to sell or a recommendation to buy any security.