ORIG3N, Inc., a pioneer in regenerative medicine and provider of pluripotent stem cell storage, has raised $3.1 million in funding from an investor syndicate that includes Hatteras Venture Partners, Harris & Harris Group, KTB and Mountain Group Capital. The funding will be used to expand Life Capsule™ which provides everyone the opportunity to contribute to the advancement of medical research of rare genetic inherited diseases and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, MS and ALS.

'We are focused on backing enterprises that are on the cutting edge of life science,' said Clay Thorp, General Partner at Hatteras Venture Partners. 'Robin's vision and entrepreneurial track record of consistently executing growth businesses make ORIG3N a perfect addition to our selective portfolio. We are proud to support ORIG3N in its innovative pursuit of empowering everyone to contribute to the future of medicine.'

Life Capsule by ORIG3N is a bio-repository where anyone can contribute to the advancement of medicine and their own future health. From the collection of a small amount of blood, the cells are reprogramed into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which can be used for disease modeling outside of the body for both critical medical research and individualized therapy.

'We are giving millions of people the channel to advance the future of medicine by contributing to a better understanding of disease and to remove the trial and error approach to medical treatment,' said Robin Y. Smith, CEO and co-founder of ORIG3N. 'With the support of our investors and Life Capsule blood contributors, we are going to significantly improve personalized diagnostics and transform medicine as we know it today.'

This new patient-powered model to medical research is consistent with the policy objectives reflected in President Obama's Precision Medicine Initiative, which is supporting the advancement of biomedical discoveries that will provide clinicians with new tools, knowledge, and therapies to select which treatments will work best for which patients. Life Capsule will provide improved tailoring of individual treatment because clinicians will have insight into specific characteristics of a patient to make more informed and effective treatment decisions.

For more information about the Life Capsule offering, visit www.capsule.life.

About Hatteras Venture Partners IV, LP
Hatteras Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that seeks to transform medicine through seeding and growing the next generation of innovative companies in human medicine. Since 2000, Hatteras has invested in over 40 companies, with a focus on biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics, healthcare IT, and related opportunities in human health. While Hatteras has invested in companies throughout the nation, the firm is a leader in the research-driven regions of North Carolina and the Southeastern United States, which are undercapitalized in comparison to New England and California. For more information, visit: www.hatterasvp.com.

About Harris & Harris Group
Harris & Harris Group, Inc. helps build transformative companies from disruptive science. Harris & Harris Group is a publicly traded (TINY) venture capital firm that has been making such investments for over 30 years. For more information, visit: www.hhvc.com/about/.

About KTB-KORUS Fund
Founded in 1981 as one of the first venture capital firms in Korea, KTB has consistently proven itself as a premier investment company. Throughout KTB's over 30 years of history, more than 250 portfolio companies of KTB went IPO in Korea and overseas, accounting for over 10% of Korean IPOs. The venture capital entity in Korea and China are under the name KTB Network and the entity in the US is under KTB Ventures.

About MGC Venture Partners 2013, L.P.
MGC Venture Partners 2013, LP (the 'Fund') is a fund that seeks to invest in seed and early stage companies focused on two major sectors: Life Sciences and Technology. Within the Life Sciences sector, the Fund primarily focuses on investments in the diagnostics, medical device, and nutraceuticals and expedited drug development sub-sectors. Within the Technology sector, the Fund has a concentration in healthcare technology, business services and consumer technology companies. For more information, visit: www.mgcfund.com/bedrock-fund/.

About ORIG3N, Inc.
ORIG3N is a biotechnology company developing a breakthrough disease-modeling platform targeting rare genetically inherited diseases. By advancing screening projects using iPSC-derived differentiated cells and rapidly delivering the resulting data to inform therapeutic decisions, ORIG3N will replace trial and error guess work of treating disease and enable longer, healthier lives. The founders are serial entrepreneurs who's previous venture, ArtusLabs, was acquired by PerkinElmer in 2011. For more information, visit: www.orig3n.com.