Genomic testing company Sequential, based at Chesterford Research Park, has successfully completed its inaugural equity round, raising $3.5 million.
Founded in 2019, Sequential has established a robust B2B platform dedicated to research on personal care products through microbiome testing and biophysical assessments.
The company’s proprietary non-invasive testing platform enhances innovation in skin health by quantifying how various ingredients, along with consumer, biotech, and pharmaceutical products, impact microbial and host biomarkers.
The funding round was co-led by Sparkfood and Corundum Systems Biology (CSB), with contributions from Dermazone Holdings, SOSV, Scrum Ventures, and an ex-general partner at Index Ventures. The investment has also received ongoing support from Innovate UK. With this funding, Sequential has now amassed a total of $7.5 million in both dilutive and non-dilutive financing.
Anouk Veber, Ventures’ business unit leader at Sparkfood, stated, “Sequential has built a unique bridge between biology, clinical validation, and consumer product development, linking molecular and microbial biomarkers to real-world product performance.”
Oliver Worsley, CEO and co-founder of Sequential, remarked, “Our mission is to bring pharmaceutical-grade evidence and computational precision to personal care. By applying artificial intelligence to one of the world’s largest clinical datasets in dermatological health, we can discover new skin biomarkers and move beyond incremental formulation improvements to systematically design and validate breakthrough ingredient combinations. This investment allows us to scale that vision.”
As Sequential advances its mission, it represents a significant step forward in the intersection of genomics and personal care, potentially transforming the industry with evidence-based approaches.