My partners at Lightspeed and I would like to congratulate Dr. Helmy Eltoukhy and Dr. AmirAli Talasaz and the entire Guardant team on a successful IPO and launch of the next phase of development as a public company.
Early on, we were compelled by the company’s pioneering vision of making liquid biopsies a reality in the characterization and treatment of cancer. Management combined the research domains of genome sequencing, biology and big data analytics to create a cross-disciplinary solution to a diagnostic problem that, previously, focused on the harvesting of tumor samples through invasive and risky tissue biopsies.
Would you want someone inserting a metal instrument into your compromised lung to remove a piece of tumor when you could instead provide a simple blood draw to profile your cancer? That wow-factor motivated Lightspeed’s initial investment.
To date, this company has done a lot of good for a lot of patients. Now, with additional funding from the public markets, Guardant is poised to advance the state of diagnostic precision earlier in the disease process which may enable better treatment outcomes and greater efficacy for a range of cancer treatments including immunotherapies.
Lightspeed is honored to be a venture capital investor in Guardant and a partner in support of the team’s impactful mission.
— Chris Schaepe, Partner, Lightspeed
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