Local tech firm sells for $105 million

July 29th, 2010, 10:00 am
Jan Norman, small-business columnist

Helixis Inc., which has developed a faster, smaller, cheaper diagnostic tool for viruses and bacterial infections, has been bought by Illumina Inc. in San Diego.

Helixis is based in Carlsbad and has been funded by Okapi Ventures LP, an early-stage venture capital fund in Laguna Beach. The deal is the first exit of an Okapi investment and represents a return of more than six times the investment, the VC firm said.

Click here to read a previous story about Okapi’s founding.

Illumina, which develops technology to analyze DNA, RNA and protein, paid $70 million with another $35 million in contingent consideration.
Helixis has developed a unique, real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) insturment based on technology licensed from CalTech in Pasadena. This tool will complement Illumina’s existing offerings of life science tools with a new DNA analysis platform.

“When we invested in Helixis less than three years ago, we knew the strength of its team and technology would turn out to be an excellent investment for Okapi Venture Capital and our co-investors Domain Associates and Advanced Technology Ventures,â€