JPM20: Health technology company Color scores $75M funding round to scale its infrastructure

Health technology and precision genomics company Color has raised $75 million in a series D funding round led by T. Rowe Funds and Viking Global Investors.

The Burlingame, California-based company counts Apple, Verily, Northshore University HealthSystem, the Teamsters Health and Welfare Fund of Philadelphia and Vicinity, and now Sanford Health among its partners.

Color has raised $150 million in financing to date, according to Color spokesman Ben Kobren. Kobren said the value of the company's contracts has grown significantly in the past year, and the company has expanded its margins. The recently raised funds will help Color scale its infrastructure.

Color was recently named one of FierceHealthcare's Fierce 15 2020 award winners. 

In 2019 alone, Color announced a slew of new partnerships, including with the Teamsters Health and Welfare Fund of Philadelphia and Vicinity to provide access to Color's clinical-grade genomic services to about 14,000 members of their regional unions.

Color also is teaming up with Ochsner Health System on a first-of-its-kind, fully digital population health pilot program that integrates clinical genomics into standard care.

The company is expanding its partnerships with healthcare systems looking to integrate genetic testing into the primary care setting. This week, the company announced that it had met its goal of enrolling 10,000 patients into the DNA-10K program a year after launching it with NorthShore University Health System. 

RELATED: Ochsner Health System teaming up with Color to integrate genetic information into preventive care

At the 38th J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco this week, Color also announced that it is working with Sanford Health, the nation’s largest rural not-for-profit healthcare system, to build on its Imagenetics genomics program. The Imagenetics program, which began in 2014, allows Sanford Health to embed genetic medicine directly into primary care.

Through that partnership, Sanford Health physicians will have further access insights to enhance clinical decision-making. Sanford also will implement Color’s digital tools to engage patients, increase adoption and streamline clinical reporting across Sanford Health's locations in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota, the organizations said.

The NIH All of Us Research Program awarded Color a $4.6 million grant to act as the initiative’s nationwide genetic counseling service. It expanded on Color’s existing genotyping of patient samples as part of the program. 

"In the last 18 months, we saw a huge acceleration with institutions around the world and across every type of player in the health ecosystem—whether it’s hospitals or health systems, large-scale research programs, payers, care delivery, employers—who want to change the care delivery model for their population by understanding genetics across the population," Caroline Savello, vice president of commercial for Color, told FierceHealthcare.