Sequins

What Sequins does

Sequins is a privately held genomics technology company that develops and commercializes synthetic nucleic acid sequencing spike-in controls for use as internal reference standards in next-generation sequencing workflows. The company's core Mirroring Technology produces synthetic DNA and RNA sequences that retain identical nucleotide composition to their natural counterparts, enabling the controls to behave equivalently to real biological material throughout library preparation, sequencing, and variant calling. Sequins serves clinical and research laboratories that require per-sample quality control, assay calibration, and absolute quantification in whole genome sequencing, circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) liquid biopsy testing, metagenomics, and custom assay development applications.

The company's product portfolio comprises four core control sets — WGS Clinical Control Set (covering 80 genes / 96 conditions aligned to ACMG Secondary Findings), WGS Core Control Set (difficult variant classes), Metagenomics Core Control Set (52 microbial species), and ctDNA Evaluation Set (cancer gene variants at defined allele frequencies from 0.1% to 10%) — plus a custom design service called Sequins On-Demand. An RNA control product is listed as forthcoming. Revenue is generated through one-time product purchases distributed via a direct e-commerce storefront (store.sequins.bio) and enterprise sales engagement for clinical and custom applications, supplemented by a phased Technology Access Program for clinical laboratory evaluation. The company operates from Sydney, Australia (commercial R&D hub) and the San Francisco Bay Area (US headquarters), with an additional office in La Jolla, California.

Sequins was co-founded in 2022 by life-sciences entrepreneur Alex Gough (CEO, formerly of Illumina) and Professor Tim Mercer (Scientific Advisor, Garvan Institute of Medical Research) alongside venture capital partners, following an exclusive license of the Mirroring Technology from the Garvan Institute. The company closed a seed funding round in 2022, hired its commercial team in 2024 under CCO Jeremy Preston (ex-Illumina, ex-CEO of CS Genetics), and launched its first commercial products globally in February 2025. Subsequent product releases include the WGS Clinical Control Set v1.0 (October 2025) and the ctDNA Technology Access Program (November 2025).

Name

Sequins

Legal name

Sequins

Website

https://sequins.bio

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Privately held Sequins develops synthetic nucleic acid sequencing spike-in controls using proprietary Mirroring Technology exclusively licensed from the Garvan Institute, serving clinical and research laboratories needing internal reference standards for whole genome sequencing, ctDNA liquid biopsy, metagenomics, and custom assays.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Sydney

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Pre-configured Control Sets: Sequins sells pre-configured, ready-to-use control sets including WGS Clinical Control Set, WGS Core Control Set, Metagenomics Core Control Set, and ctDNA Evaluation Set. These are one-time product purchases for laboratory use as internal spike-in controls.
2. Sequins On-Demand Custom Controls: Custom-designed synthetic control sets tailored to customer-specific targets, assay designs, and performance goals. This bespoke service supports assay development, validation, and workflow performance for specialized applications.
3. Technology Access Program: Phased collaborative framework for clinical laboratories to evaluate, optimize, and validate ctDNA assays using the ctDNA Evaluation Set before full commercial adoption.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Sequins manufactures and sells synthetic nucleic acid sequencing spike-in controls (DNA and RNA) that directly mirror naturally occurring genomic sequences, based on patented mirroring technology exclusively licensed from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. The company offers pre-configured control sets for clinical whole genome sequencing, metagenomics, and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) assays, plus custom-designed controls through the Sequins On-Demand program for genomics laboratories, clinical diagnostic labs, and life sciences companies.

Product overview

Sequins offers a portfolio of synthetic nucleic acid sequencing spike-in controls that directly mirror naturally occurring genomic sequences. The product line includes the WGS Clinical Control Set (covering 80 ACMG Secondary Findings genes), WGS Core Control Set (difficult variant classes), Metagenomics Core Control Set (52 microbial species), and ctDNA Evaluation Set (cancer gene variants at defined allele frequencies). The Sequins On-Demand program enables custom spike-in designs for specialized applications. All products use compatible workflow integration using Sequins-specific FASTA files for seamless analysis alongside standard bioinformatics tools.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• WGS Clinical Control Set Internal spike-in control standards for clinical whole genome sequencing based on the ACMG Secondary Findings list, covering 80 genes and 96 conditions across cancer, cardiovascular, metabolic, and rare diseases. Designed for clinical diagnostic laboratories requiring sample-specific quality assurance.
• WGS Core Control Set Pre-configured control set for whole genome sequencing comprising variant classes including difficult variants, structural variants, microsatellites, mitochondrial DNA, and common genetic variants. Targeted at research and clinical genomics laboratories running WGS workflows.
• Metagenomics Core Control Set Comprehensive control set containing synthetic sequences representing 52 microbial species at varying abundances to emulate natural microbial communities for pathogen detection and antimicrobial resistance screening. Designed for metagenomics research and clinical laboratories.
• ctDNA Evaluation Set Molecular ladder developed for assessing variant allele frequency and sensitivity in cell-free cancer testing, targeting 23 cancer genes with variants at precise allele frequencies from 0.1% to 10%. Built for clinical laboratories performing liquid biopsy ctDNA assays.
• Sequins On-Demand Custom-designed synthetic spike-in control program that creates tailored controls for specific genomic regions, variants, or organisms relevant to customer assay designs. Targeted at life sciences and biotech companies with specialized assay development, validation, and quality monitoring needs.
• ctDNA Technology Access Program Phased collaborative framework for clinical laboratories to evaluate, optimize, and validate ctDNA assays using the ctDNA Evaluation Set before full commercial adoption. Includes structured engagement for clinical labs adopting Sequins controls for liquid biopsy applications.

Quantifiable outcome

• Precision and sensitivity above 99% for variant calling in WGS Clinical Control Set performance testing
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Garvan Institute of Medical ResearchcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Origin of Sequins technology from Professor Tim Mercer's research lab at the Garvan Institute in Sydney. The technology was exclusively licensed to Sequins company for commercialization. This partnership represents the foundational origin of the company's core technology platform.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• LGC Group: LGC Group is the parent of LGC Clinical Diagnostics (SeraCare) and provides reference materials, genomics reagents, and measurement standards globally. They are relevant as the corporate parent of Sequins' most direct peer and as a potential strategic acquirer of emerging control standard companies.

Broad incumbents

• ATCC: ATCC is the established global provider of authenticated biological reference materials including microbial and cell line standards used in genomics QC. They serve overlapping clinical and metagenomics lab customers but focus on authenticated natural reference materials rather than synthetic mirroring controls.
• Agilent Technologies: Agilent provides a broad genomics portfolio including NGS target enrichment, microarray, and diagnostic solutions used by clinical and research labs. While not a direct competitor in synthetic QC controls, they represent a potential acquirer or adjacently competitive player in clinical genomics workflows.
• Promega: Promega provides a broad portfolio of genomics reagents, nucleic acid extraction kits, and amplification products used in clinical and research sequencing workflows. While not a direct competitor in synthetic spike-in controls, they share the same clinical genomics customer base that Sequins targets.
• Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT): IDT, a Danaher subsidiary, is a global leader in oligonucleotide synthesis and genomics reagents with a much broader catalog and deeper sales reach. They sell NGS-adjacent products including custom oligos, rhAmpSeq assays, and qPCR controls, overlapping with Sequins' end customer base but not specializing in synthetic whole-pathway spike-in controls.
• New England Biolabs (NEB): NEB is a major life science tools provider offering NGS library preparation reagents, enzymes, and companion products used by clinical and research sequencing labs. They serve the same genomics lab end market but do not specialize in synthetic reference standards — a complementary rather than directly competitive offering.
• Bio-Rad Laboratories: Bio-Rad offers life science research and clinical diagnostics products, including digital PCR and qPCR systems with associated controls and reagents used in genomics QC. They have the scale and clinical market reach that Sequins lacks but do not focus specifically on synthetic NGS spike-in controls.

Direct peers

• Horizon Discovery (Revvity): Horizon Discovery, now part of Revvity, provides engineered cell lines and reference standards for genomics QC and gene editing validation. Their reference standard offerings overlap directly with Sequins' clinical WGS and ctDNA control sets in the same customer base of clinical genomics laboratories.
• Twist Bioscience: Twist Bioscience manufactures synthetic DNA at scale and has expanded into reference standards for NGS, including synthetic microbial and cancer variant controls. Their silicon-based DNA synthesis platform gives them capacity advantages over Sequins' licensed mirroring approach in the same target verticals of metagenomics and clinical genomics QC.
• LGC Clinical Diagnostics: LGC Clinical Diagnostics (formerly SeraCare) is the established market leader in clinical genomics reference materials with its AccuPlex and SeraSeq product lines — directly competing with Sequins in clinical WGS and ctDNA QC controls. Both companies manufacture synthetic, well-characterized controls used by clinical laboratories for assay validation and quality monitoring.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sequinsbio

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sequins