Investment will go into game-changing rapid COVID-19 test, highly accurate, results in 15-30 minutes, no lab required, low-cost. In discussions with Governments globally.
Enabling Travel Bubble: Prenetics, Cathay Pacific to launch pilot in October 2020 from HKG to LHR with The Commons Project, a global digital health passport that allows travellers to show their negative COVID-19 test results on an mobile app. Enabled via Prenetics rapid COVID-19 test to be performed at airport or at airport express.
Apis Insurtech Fund I, a venture fund managed by Apis Partners has led a US$15 million investment in Prenetics Limited, along with existing investor Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund and more.
Prenetics is a leading genetics and diagnostic health testing company, operational in 10 countries with a team of over 200. Prenetics, driven by a duty of responsibility due to the global pandemic launched Project Screen by Circle, an initiative aimed at making COVID-19 testing easy, safe and accurate. Highlighted below are some key updates:
•Prenetics plans to launch in Q4 a rapid COVID-19 nucleic acid test, with results in 15-30 minutes, no laboratory required, highly scalable, low-cost, enabling frequent testing. Prenetics is in talks with multiple governments globally.
•Prenetics has been selected by Pure Health, the largest laboratory network in the UAE to test airline passengers flying into the United Arab Emirates from Hong Kong, in accordance with the UAE's requirement for travelers to prove they are not infected with Covid-19. Pure Health has been appointed by the UAE's government to launch this pioneering project to promote safe travel.
•Prenetics has performed more than 300,000 RT-PCR COVID-19 tests in Hong Kong and in the U.K., having identified approximately 280 individuals as positive for COVID-19.
•Prenetics, the only Hong Kong laboratory appointed by the Hong Kong government in the 1st phase of community COVID-19 testing across high-risk clusters, which include Hospital Authority, Travellers, Restaurant Staff, Foreign Domestic Helpers, and more.
•Prenetics Hong Kong laboratory can process over 20,000 RT-PCR tests daily, making it the largest private testing laboratory in Hong Kong.
•Prenetics was selected in May 2020 by U.K. Premier League to help re-start the football season by providing 40,000 COVID-19 tests for all 20 teams. Prenetics has been chosen again for the new season as the only testing provider by the Premier League.
•Prenetics Group CEO – Danny Yeung selected by Business Insider Asia as one of 100 people transforming business in Asia.
Alongside serving the community in the fight against COVID-19, Prenetics pioneered the use of Whole Exome Sequencing Technology with its flagship CircleDNA consumer DNA test. Via CircleDNA, individuals can, via a single saliva swab, access over 500 valuable health reports which include cancer & disease risk, carrier screening for family planning, drug response, diet & nutrition, sports, ancestry and many more.
Prenetics has now raised more than US$60 million since inception in 2014. The new funding will be used to continue to invest in R&D with a specific focus on further advancing COVID-19 testing technologies on a global basis.
Danny Yeung, Co-Founder and Group CEO of Prenetics, said: "We are proud to be playing such a major role in the fight against COVID-19. Rapid, accurate, and frequent testing could be one of our most important interventions as fall approaches to prevent large outbreaks and for the global economy. In a recent Harvard study, it showed that there could be a 65% reduction[1] in infectiousness with weekly testing. Our teams are working 24/7 and stay tuned for some exciting updates in this area."
Apis Managing Director, Jin Jeong, said: "We were highly impressed by Danny and the entire team at Prenetics for their mission driven approach to healthcare. Prenetics is spearheading personalized health by leveraging its next gen genomics capability. Whilst we made our decision to invest in Prenetics pre-COVID, seeing how Prenetics has used technology to help the community provide much needed COVID-19 testing is really a testament to the team's ability to make a difference to the World. I'm very excited for the future of Prenetics."