Berkeley Lights Funding, Investors & Competitors

Berkeley Lights has raised $248M across 7 funding rounds, most recently a $95M Series E in October 2018.

Last Berkeley Lights funding round

$95M

Series E · Oct 2018

Cumulative funding Berkeley Lights raised

$248M

across 7 funding rounds

Key investors in Berkeley Lights

  • Celesta Capital
  • Sequoia Capital
  • Walden Riverwood Ventures
  • Lucas Venture Group
  • Black Diamond Ventures
  • Nikon
  • Paxion Capital Partners
  • Atinum Investment

Berkeley Lights Overview

About Berkeley Lights

Berkeley Lights is an Emeryville, California-headquartered life sciences technology company providing the Beacon platform for single-cell analysis and cell line development. The system enables high-throughput functional characterization of cells for applications in cell therapy manufacturing, antibody discovery, and synthetic biology. Publicly traded on NASDAQ as BELI until 2023, it serves biopharma firms like Takeda and Bristol Myers Squibb, accelerating development timelines by encapsulating cells in microfluidic droplets.


Founded

2011

HQ

United StatesSan Francisco, CA

Status

Privately held

Customer focus

B2B

Revenue model

Product sales

Berkeley Lights Funding History

Berkeley Lights has raised a total of $248M across 7 funding rounds.

Berkeley Lights' first fundraising round was a $5M Series B in July 2014. The most recent completed round was a $95M Series E in October 2018.

Berkeley Lights funding rounds

Berkeley Lights funding rounds
DateStageInvestorsRaisedDeal Summary
Oct 2018Series ENikon (lead); Lucas Venture Group; Shangbay Capital; Walden Riverwood Ventures; KTB Network; Sequoia Capital; Cota Capital; AJS Investments; Varian; Black Diamond Ventures; Paxion Capital Partners; Atinum Investment$95MBerkeley Lights, Inc. (BLI), a digital cell biology company based in Emeryville, California, develops and commercializes platforms like the Beacon platform to accelerate discovery, development, and delivery of cell-based products and therapies, including applications in cell line development, antibody discovery, gene editing, antibody engineering, and cell therapy manufacturing such as CAR T. The company originated from research at the University of California, Berkeley, and had raised about $215 million in total venture funding prior to its IPO filing. On October 15, 2018, BLI closed a $95 million Series E funding round led by Nikon with a $30 million investment, joined by new investors Cota Capital, KTB Network, Atinum Investment, Shangbay Capital, AJS BioTree Healthcare Fund, and Varian, and backed by existing investors Sequoia Capital, Walden-Riverwood Ventures, Black Diamond Ventures, and Paxion Capital. The investors match exactly: AJS Investments (as AJS BioTree Healthcare Fund), Atinum Partners (as Atinum Investment), Black Diamond Ventures, Cota Capital, KTB Network, Lucas Venture Group (possibly aligned), Nikon (lead), Paxion Capital Partners, Sequoia Capital, Shangbay Capital, Varian, Walden Riverwood Ventures. Funds were allocated to expedite commercial expansion, platform development for cell therapy, and to meet growing customer base needs, with the CEO noting doubled adoption of the Beacon platform in the prior 12 months. Nikon held an 8.1% stake post-round, with largest shareholders Walden-Riverwood Ventures at 25.5% and Sequoia Capital at 15%. The company later filed for a $100 million IPO on Nasdaq, enabling exits for corporates like Nikon and Varian, with JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Cowen, and William Blair as underwriters. Later data shows $56.7 million in 2019 and $64.3 million in 2020.
Apr 2018Series ENikon (lead)$44MBerkeley Lights, Inc., founded in 2011 based on optofluidics research from UC Berkeley engineer Ming C. Wu, develops digital cell biology platforms like the Beacon system, which uses light to isolate, culture, assay, and analyze single cells for applications in drug discovery, antibody development, and cell therapies. The company sells Beacon instruments to biotech firms including Amgen, Novartis, Pfizer, and Sanofi, and was expanding into automated cell therapy manufacturing with the Searchlight system. In October 2018, Berkeley Lights closed a $95 million Series E funding round led by Nikon, which invested $30 million, with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital, Walden-Riverwood Ventures, Black Diamond Ventures, Paxion Capital, and new investors Cota Capital, KTB Network, Atinum Investment, Shangbay Capital, and AJS BioTree Healthcare Fund. The funds were aimed at expediting commercial expansion, platform development for cell therapy, and enhancing capabilities for personalized therapeutics. Nikon had previously invested $10 million in 2016 and an additional amount leading to the 2018 strategic cooperation, including exclusive sales rights for the Beacon platform in Japan through Nikon Instech. By late 2018, CEO Eric Hobbs noted the company had more than doubled adoption of the Beacon platform in the prior 12 months. Nikon held an 8.1% stake post-Series E, with major shareholders including Walden-Riverwood Ventures at 25.5% and Sequoia Capital at 15%. The round brought total venture funding to about $215 million by 2018. The company launched a joint venture, Optera Therapeutics, with MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2018 for therapeutics development.
Apr 2018Series ECelesta Capital (lead)$2M-
Nov 2016Series DCelesta Capital (lead); Paxion Capital Partners (lead); Black Diamond Ventures$40M-
Sep 2015Series CSequoia Capital (lead); Lucas Venture Group; Walden Riverwood Ventures$57MBerkeley Lights, Inc., based in Emeryville, California, emerged from stealth mode on September 21, 2015, announcing its nanofluidic instruments using OptoSelect light technology for massively parallel single-cell sorting, selection, real-time assaying, culturing, and recovery. The platform analyzes cell morphology, surface molecule expression, or protein secretion from single cells in real time, targeting applications in biopharmaceuticals, genomics, and clinical uses including antibody discovery and cell therapies. The company disclosed raising a total of $90 million across three funding rounds, with the most recent being a $56.5 million Series C round closed shortly before the announcement, involving investors Sequoia Capital and Walden Riverwood Ventures, matching the specified investors and lead. Michael Moritz from Sequoia and Michael Marks from Walden Riverwood Ventures joined the board alongside existing directors Lip-Bu Tan of WRV and co-founders. No details on post-money valuation, amount raised specifics beyond the series C size, use of funds, revenue, ARR, EBITDA, or valuation multiples were provided in the 2015 announcements. The company remained private, later raising additional rounds including $29.5 million in 2016 and a $95 million Series E in 2018 led by Nikon, before pursuing an IPO filing for up to $100 million.
Apr 2015Series CCelesta Capital (lead)$5M-
Jul 2014Series BCelesta Capital (lead)$5MBerkeley Lights, a synthetic biology and biotechnology company founded in 2011 and headquartered in Emeryville, California, raised $5 million in its Series B round on July 18, 2014, led by Celesta Capital. The company develops platforms for digital cell biology, focusing on accelerating discovery, development, and delivery of cell-based products and therapies using optofluidics technology. Celesta Capital (formerly WRVI Capital) invested in Berkeley Lights in 2014 as part of early-stage funding to support advancements in drug discovery. This round followed prior investments and preceded later rounds, including a Series C of $5 million in April 2015 and a larger $95 million round in October 2018 led by Nikon with participation from Sequoia Capital, Walden-Riverwood Ventures, Black Diamond Ventures, Paxion Capital, and others.

Who has invested in Berkeley Lights?

13 investors have backed Berkeley Lights across its funding rounds, including Celesta Capital, Sequoia Capital, Walden Riverwood Ventures, Lucas Venture Group, Black Diamond Ventures and Nikon.

Lead investors include Nikon, Celesta Capital, Paxion Capital Partners and Sequoia Capital.


Berkeley Lights Investors

Investors in Berkeley Lights by funding rounds participated
InvestorHQRoundsRoleFirst check
Celesta CapitalUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA4LeadJul 2014
Lucas Venture GroupUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA2ParticipantSep 2015
NikonJapanTokyo2LeadApr 2018
Walden Riverwood VenturesUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA2ParticipantSep 2015
Sequoia CapitalUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA2LeadSep 2015
Black Diamond VenturesUnited StatesLos Angeles, CA2ParticipantNov 2016
Paxion Capital PartnersUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA2LeadNov 2016
Shangbay CapitalUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA1ParticipantOct 2018
KTB NetworkSouth KoreaSeongnam1ParticipantOct 2018
Cota CapitalUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA1ParticipantOct 2018
AJS Investments--1ParticipantOct 2018

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Benchmark 350K+ Funding Rounds and Disclosed VC Valuation Multiples

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Acquisitions by Berkeley Lights

Berkeley Lights has acquired 1 company to date.

Last acquisition by Berkeley Lights was on December 21st 2022. Berkeley Lights acquired IsoPlexis for $58M.


Latest Acquisitions by Berkeley Lights

IsoPlexis
Description
IsoPlexis is a Branford, Connecticut-headquartered life sciences company offering a single-cell proteomics platform that analyzes immune responses to advance therapeutic development and clinical decisions.
HQ CountryUnited States
HQ City
New Haven, CT
Deal Date21 Dec 2022
Valuation$58M
EV/Revenue
EV/EBITDA

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Berkeley Lights Competitors

Berkeley Lights competitors include listed companies like Syngene, Wuxi AppTec and Merck KGaA, and private ones like Aragen Life Sciences, VectorBuilder and Safe Medical Evaluation.

Public and private companies comparable to Berkeley Lights
CompanyHQStatusRevenueEBITDAValuationRevenue Multiple
SyngeneIndiaIndiaPublicly listed$376M$88M$1.6B3.9x
Aragen Life SciencesIndiaHyderabadPrivate$179M$48M$1.4B7.8x
VectorBuilderUnited StatesChicago, ILPrivate--$1B-
Safe Medical EvaluationChinaBeijingPrivate--$574M-
Wuxi AppTecChinaChinaPublicly listed$6.8B$4B$73B8.2x
Merck KGaAGermanyGermanyPublicly listed$24B$5.3B$66B3.1x

Berkeley Lights Public Comps

Berkeley Lights is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Wuxi AppTec, Merck KGaA, Samsung BioLogics, Lonza Group, IQVIA, Illumina, Wuxi Biologics, Divi's Laboratories, Sartorius and Sartorius.

Last FYEV/RevenueEV/EBITDA
RevenueEBITDALast FYLTM2027ELast FYLTM2027E
Wuxi AppTec$6.8B$4B10.0x8.2x17.0x16.2x
Merck KGaA$24B$5.3B3.1x3.1x14.3x10.7x
Samsung BioLogics$3.3B$2B14.0x12.5x23.3x23.6x
Lonza Group$7.9B$2.5B6.4x5.9x20.5x18.0x
IQVIA$16B$3.4B3.6x3.4x17.2x14.8x
Illumina$4.3B$1.4B8.8x8.4x27.1x30.0x
Wuxi Biologics$3.2B$1.3B7.8x7.0x19.4x18.0x
Divi's Laboratories$1.1B$374M23.3x21.2x68.0x61.8x

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Common questions about Berkeley Lights

When was Berkeley Lights founded?Berkeley Lights was founded in 2011.
Where is Berkeley Lights headquartered?Berkeley Lights is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, United States.
Is Berkeley Lights publicly listed?No, Berkeley Lights is a private, VC-backed company.
How much funding has Berkeley Lights raised?Berkeley Lights has raised $248M across 7 funding rounds.
What was Berkeley Lights' last funding round?Berkeley Lights' last funding round was a $95M Series E in October 2018, led by Nikon.
Who are Berkeley Lights' investors?Berkeley Lights' investors include Celesta Capital, Lucas Venture Group, Nikon, Walden Riverwood Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Black Diamond Ventures, Paxion Capital Partners, Shangbay Capital, KTB Network, Cota Capital and 3 others.
Which companies are comparable to Berkeley Lights?Companies comparable to Berkeley Lights include Syngene, Aragen Life Sciences, VectorBuilder, Safe Medical Evaluation, Wuxi AppTec and Merck KGaA.
How many companies has Berkeley Lights acquired?Berkeley Lights has acquired 1 company, including IsoPlexis.
What was the largest acquisition by Berkeley Lights?The $58M acquisition of IsoPlexis in December 2022 is the largest acquisition Berkeley Lights has made to date.

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