DNA Data Storage Platform Catalog Raises $35M in Funding

The Challenge of Modern Data Storage

Traditional electronic storage solutions, such as flash drives and hard disk drives, necessitate significant energy expenditure for processing large volumes of data. These systems also face vulnerabilities concerning data security, stemming from their limited storage capacity. Furthermore, the transmission of data stored on these devices can be a costly undertaking.

Catalog: A Novel Approach with Synthetic DNA

Founded in 2016 in Boston, Catalog is a startup pioneering a new paradigm in data storage and computation. Spearheaded by MIT scientists, including co-founder and CEO Hyunjun Park, the company is developing a platform leveraging synthetic DNA to achieve energy efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and enhanced security.

Securing Series B Funding

Catalog recently announced the successful completion of a $35 million Series B funding round. This investment will fuel the continued development of its DNA-based data computation tools.

Investment Details

South Korea’s Hanwha Impact led the Series B round, with participation from existing investor Horizons Ventures, a Hong Kong-based venture capital firm. This information was shared by CEO Hyunjun Park in a TechCrunch interview.

Future Development and Commercialization

The newly acquired funds will be allocated to accelerating the development of Catalog’s synthetic DNA-powered computing platform. This platform facilitates data management, computation, and automation processes. Over the coming two to three years, the company intends to increase investment in developing computational functionalities, as stated by Park to TechCrunch. Commercial availability of the platform is anticipated around 2025.

Industry Collaboration

As a member of the DNA Storage Alliance, Catalog remains committed to supporting its collaborators and partners within the DNA-based computing ecosystem, fostering industry growth, according to Park.

Total Funding to Date

This Series B round brings Catalog’s total funding to approximately $60 million. While Park refrained from disclosing the company’s valuation, he noted prior funding rounds included a $10 million Series A led by Horizons Ventures in 2020, and a $9 million seed round in 2018, co-led by New Enterprise Associates and OS Fund, alongside other investors.

From Academia to Commercial Application

Although the concept of utilizing DNA for data storage and computation has been explored for years, much of the research remained within academic circles. Catalog has successfully bridged this gap, discovering methods to integrate DNA into algorithms and applications with significant commercial potential through its unique data-encoding scheme and automation capabilities.

Proprietary Encoding Scheme

“Catalog’s innovative approach to encoding information into DNA is groundbreaking, requiring minimal de novo DNA synthesis to store substantial amounts of data,” Park explained. “Traditionally, the slow speed and high cost of DNA synthesis have presented a major obstacle in this field.”

Shannon: A High-Throughput DNA Writer

Catalog’s custom-designed DNA writer, named Shannon, is capable of performing hundreds of thousands of chemical reactions each second. Designed to achieve a writing speed exceeding 10MB/sec at full capacity, Shannon can store up to 1.63TB of compressed data in a single operation.

Potential Applications

The technology developed by Catalog has potential applications in diverse fields, including fraud detection within financial services, image processing for defect identification in manufacturing, and digital signal processing, such as seismic analysis in the energy sector.

Industry Partnerships

“Catalog has collaborated with companies across the IT, media, entertainment, and energy industries,” Park stated. “Through these collaborations, we’ve identified the broad applicability of our DNA-based data storage and computing platform across various sectors and among organizations that handle large datasets.” He further noted that a dozen or so companies are currently engaged as co-development partners and collaborators, located in the U.S. and Europe.

Complementing Existing Technologies

The IT industry has seen a rise in specialized technologies like accelerators (GPUs, FPGAs), quantum computers, and massively parallel computers in recent years. The emergence of DNA-based computing complements this landscape, offering low-energy, spatially dense, and secure computing capabilities, independent of the constraints inherent in electronic systems, according to the company’s statement.

Market Size and Growth

“As a point of reference, the high-performance computing market is currently valued at approximately $40 billion annually and is experiencing rapid growth,” Park indicated when discussing the global market size.

DNA Storage Alliance and Future Outlook

Microsoft, Twist, Illumina, and Western Digital recently established the DNA Storage Alliance, with Catalog as a participating member. The company is building upon this foundation by focusing on computation, enabling businesses to derive value from data that might otherwise be discarded or archived, as Park explained.

Hanwha Impact’s Perspective

“Catalog’s technology offers a practical solution to the challenges of both mass data accumulation and preservation, but more importantly, to the effective utilization of data,” stated Nick Ha, Vice President of Hanwha Impact Partners.

Expansion into Asia

Earlier this year, Catalog established an office in Seoul, South Korea, to facilitate expansion into the Asian market, as noted by Park.