Color raised $100 million in a announces Series E financing, giving it a valuation of $4.6 billion. Photo credit: Color
Color recently raised $100 million in equity, tripling its valuation since it closed a funding round in January. It’s now valued at $4.6 billion.
Kindred Ventures and funds advised by T. Rowe Price Associates led its series E round.
Color, which had started as a genetic testing business in 2015, found a broader use for its infrastructure during the pandemic. The company grew quickly, operating thousands of Covid-19 testing sites, and is now looking at broader public health partnerships.
Before the pandemic, Color started working with the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program, and provided genomic testing services for Verily’s Project Baseline study.
In the last two years, the company took that experience to run Covid-19 testing programs for schools, businesses and governments. For example, it struck a partnership with PerkinElmer and the State of California to operate Covid-19 testing and vaccination sites across the state. It also ran testing programs for companies like Salesforce, and several K-12 schools.
One aspect of these partnerships has been the ability for Color’s software to report test results into state data reporting systems, which had been a challenge for public health agencies throughout the pandemic. In total, Color said it has supported 6,500 testing sites and 500 vaccination sites across the U.S.
“What we have built will serve as a critical piece of public health infrastructure to deliver access to healthcare services to those who need them most,” Color Co-Founder and CEO Othman Laraki said in a news release. “We have learned that there is an exponential uptick in people’s ability to use these services as they become simpler and more convenient. Public health should happen where public life happens.”
Looking to the future, Color plans to build on its relationships with public health agencies by offering infectious disease programs and preventive services. For example, it plans to offer its testing services along with follow-up consultations, and coordinate logistics to provide supplies to clinics and directly to patients. It will also continue to offer genetic testing and counseling.
