Cardea Bio Inc., the world's leading commercial manufacturer of the first-ever biology-enabled transistor technology made from high-quality graphene-based biosensors, today announced a Series A-1 financing of $7.8 million. The funding will be used to grow the team and initiate new strategic partnerships through the Cardea Innovation Partnership Program, which facilitates co-development and commercialization of novel applications for the advanced biosensor technology.

The round was led by Alexandria Venture Investments, with participation from new and existing investors, including Series A round lead investor Serra Ventures. Jonathan Kabakoff, senior principal, science and technology at Alexandria Venture Investments, has taken a seat on Cardea's board of directors, joining early investor Tim Hoerr, CEO and managing partner at Serra Ventures.

"We are fortunate to have built a true partnership with Jonathan and the investment team at Alexandria. Jonathan's deep understanding of our science and the life science industry has already been invaluable and we are proud to welcome him to our board of directors," said Michael Heltzen, co-CEO of Cardea. "The financial support of our investors and their trust in Cardea's vision and technology allow us to expand our talented team and grow the consortium of Innovation Partners, which is designed to drive the commercialization of graphene-based digital biosensor enabled products. This initial group of Innovation Partners will be the pioneers that, together with Cardea, create the building blocks for the Internet of Biology-where connecting and extracting information from biology should be as simple as a Google search."

Cardea will use this new funding to establish collaborations with various companies and scientists through the Innovation Partnership Program to investigate the applicability of its biosensor platform in diverse settings, including agricultural, industrial, and clinical research. Pharmaceutical companies have been early adopters of this technology, using it as a research tool for determining binding properties of biomolecules. This application of the Cardea technology, which is being manufactured and sold under the Cardea brand Nanomed, is designed to help these customers evaluate early-stage therapeutic candidates as well as provide Cardea with expert feedback on its core technology.

Cardea's ultra-sensitive graphene-based biosensors directly measure and instantly digitize binding interactions in biological systems. Unlike silicon, graphene is stable in water and air, so its use in electronic circuitry allows for direct contact with biomolecules such as proteins, RNA and DNA. Biomolecules have a complex innate electrical polarization and when they bind or interact with other molecules, slight changes in their electronic states occur. Cardea's biosensors can detect these changes and immediately transmit a digital signal for computer analysis.

"Cardea's unique technology, backed by strong fundamental patents, has the potential to address a major bottleneck in biological measurements by replacing complex reagents and optics with direct electrical detection that is portable enough to use in any research setting," said Mr. Kabakoff. "Not only will this improve sensitivity and reduce time-to-results, it will provide scientists with immediate insights to more deeply and clearly understand the world of biology around us."

About Cardea Bio

Cardea Bio is the world's leading commercial manufacturer and developer of breakthrough graphene-based digital biosensor hardware, software, and molecular infrastructure. The Cardea infrastructure enables application of advanced biosensors to any biological system, making the technology the ideal conduit to enable the future Internet of Biology. Cardea's mission is to transform the life science and healthcare industries by collaborating with a consortium of Innovations Partners in order to create novel products and solutions for instant biological insights. Cardea is headquartered in San Diego. For more information, please visit www.cardeabio.com.