A University of New South Wales spinout working on a novel DNA sequencing approach has quietly secured $6 million in Series A funding, bringing SWAN Genomics to more than $14 million in total disclosed equity backing. The round was reported by SignalBase on Oct 14, though the Sydney-based startup had yet to announce the financing publicly a day later.
The company's pitch centers on what it calls native sequencing: reading DNA molecules as they exist in cells, without the amplification steps that anchor current short-read methods. At the heart of SWAN's technology sits a plasmonic nanoantenna platform, a device that amplifies fluorescence signals from single strands of DNA while sidestepping the polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, that dominates sample preparation in most commercial workflows. The goal is to cut costs and complexity while preserving epigenetic markers that traditional sequencing erases.
Whether SWAN can deliver on that promise remains an open question. The genomics tools market has seen waves of startups challenge Illumina's stranglehold on short-read sequencing, with mixed results. But the company has assembled a team with deep experience in the sector and is building out operations in both Sydney and San Diego.
Nanoscale Precision
SWAN fabricates its sensors using DNA origami, a technique that allows for molecular-level positioning of antenna arrays. The approach is designed to enable massively parallel readouts, a requirement for any platform hoping to compete on throughput with established players. A patent filing from November 2024 details the core architecture, listing co-founders Lawrence Lee and Min Huang as inventors. The document describes methods for detecting fluorescence from individual bases using the antenna arrays.
Lee, who holds a PhD and serves as chief executive, launched SWAN alongside Huang, now the company's director of R&D. The executive roster also includes Morassa Mohseni as senior vice president overseeing product, commercial operations, and business development. Mohseni previously worked at Roche Sequencing, Omniome, Ariosa Diagnostics, and Encodia, according to the company's website. LinkedIn profiles suggest SWAN employs between 11 and 50 people.
"SWAN is revolutionising DNA sequencing by surpassing the constraints of current short-read and long-read methods," Lee said in a February 17 UNSW newsroom piece. "Our single-molecule platform offers flexibility, scalability, and affordability, redefining the future of genomics." It's the kind of language venture-backed founders often deploy, though the company's technical publications suggest the underlying science has attracted serious attention from researchers.
A Crowded Field
The cost curve for genome sequencing has bent dramatically over two decades. Data from the National Human Genome Research Institute shows the price of sequencing a human genome tumbling from roughly $95.3 million in 2001 to around $525 by 2022 at production scale. That decline created markets SWAN now hopes to serve, but it also intensified competition. Illumina still dominates short-read sequencing, while PacBio and Oxford Nanopore have carved out niches in long-read technologies.
Other optical sequencing startups are chasing similar opportunities. Daisy Genomics, for instance, raised a $2.5 million seed round for an optical long-read approach, according to Whiteford Research. Each contender is betting on a different technical solution to the same set of problems: speed, accuracy, and cost.
Early Backing and Government Support
SWAN raised an A$8 million seed round in June 2024 from a group that included Proto Axiom, In-Q-Tel, Investible, Pacific Channel, and Salus Ventures, Dealroom reported. The company's website lists those firms plus Ki Tua Fund, EGB Capital, and UNSW among its backers, though SWAN has not disclosed which investors joined the Series A.
The New South Wales government approved a A$450,000 grant in March through the NSW Biosciences Fund, state records show. SWAN also secured support from the federal AEA Ignite program, which UNSW announced in a March 2025 newsroom post, though the university did not specify the grant amount.
Partnerships with Fonterra and the Australian Genome Research Facility are listed on UNSW's commercialization portfolio page. The company was scheduled to present at a UNSW deep tech showcase on Oct 14, the same day the Series A surfaced in deal databases.
For now, SWAN remains in the category of promising but unproven. The technology will need to move from controlled lab environments to the messy realities of clinical and research applications. Investors are clearly willing to fund that transition, but the genomics graveyard is littered with startups that solved elegant technical problems without cracking the harder puzzle of market adoption.
