Who Should Read This Article?
- Researchers and scientists interested in next-generation sequencing (NGS), multiomics, and emerging technologies in genomics.
- Readers who want to understand the founding, technological development, product strategy, financing, and organizational growth of Element Biosciences.
- Anyone interested in technological innovation, commercialization, and competitive strategy in the life sciences instrumentation industry.
Summary
- Element Biosciences is a U.S.-based genomics instrumentation company founded in 2017 by scientists with experience at Illumina and PacBio.
- The company developed its proprietary Avidity Sequencing technology and commercialized its first benchtop NGS instrument, AVITI, in 2022.
- Since 2024, Element has expanded beyond DNA and RNA sequencing into integrated multiomics, combining molecular measurements with cellular morphology and protein expression through platforms such as AVITI24.
- Along the way, the company has faced substantial R&D costs, Illumina's entrenched market position, customer switching barriers, and intellectual property disputes. It has responded through technological innovation, changes in its commercial strategy, and product diversification.
- By 2026, Element had expanded into high-throughput sequencing, single-cell multiomics, and clinical diagnostics. However, its long-term profitability and ability to manage intellectual property risks remain important questions.
1. What Kind of Company Is Element Biosciences?
Element Biosciences is a genomics instrumentation company founded in July 2017 in San Diego, California.
Its three co-founders are Molly He, Michael Previte, and Matthew Kellinger. In 2022, the company commercialized AVITI, a next-generation sequencing instrument based on its proprietary Avidity Sequencing technology.[1][2]
Initially, Element entered the short-read NGS market as a challenger to Illumina, which had established an overwhelmingly dominant market position.
Since 2024, however, the company has expanded beyond DNA sequencing into single-cell multiomics, cellular imaging, drug discovery research, and platforms intended for clinical laboratory applications.[2]
One of the most important aspects of Element's history is how its strategic ambition has evolved.
The company began with the goal of developing a more affordable, highly accurate sequencer. Over time, that ambition expanded toward building a biological analysis platform capable of integrating sequencing, cellular morphology, protein expression, and other measurements.
Its evolution can be divided into five major phases.
| Period | Major Developments | Strategic Significance |
|---|---|---|
| 2017–2021 | Development of proprietary NGS technology and major fundraising rounds | Development of sequencing chemistry distinct from Illumina's technology, integrating instrumentation, reagents, image processing, and bioinformatics |
| 2022–2023 | Commercialization of AVITI and entry into the NGS market | Emphasis on accuracy, lower operating costs, and flexibility; announcement of a $200 genome in 2023 |
| 2024 | Transformation toward multiomics | Introduction of AVITI24, Teton, Trinity, Cloudbreak UltraQ, and other technologies, extending capabilities beyond DNA sequence determination |
| 2025 | Expansion of the customer base and application-specific solutions | Growth in pharmaceutical, drug discovery, and clinical research applications, along with an expanding AVITI24 installed base |
| 2026 | Expansion into high-throughput NGS, clinical diagnostics, and integrated cellular analysis | Introduction or announcement of VITARI, Cytos, and AVITI Dx, supported by additional investment from Samsung |
Throughout this period, Element's investor base evolved from venture capital firms to growth-oriented institutional investors and strategic corporate investors.
As of July 2024, the company had raised more than $680 million.
In 2026, Samsung invested an additional $175 million, alongside an undisclosed amount from other investors.
Simply adding these amounts suggests cumulative financing of at least $855 million. However, reported totals may differ depending on the inclusion of undisclosed financing rounds and the calculation methods used by different databases.[2][9]
Element also reported revenue exceeding $25 million in 2023.[8]
To understand how the company reached this point, it is useful to examine its origins, technological breakthroughs, commercial development, and strategic decisions.
2. The Founding Story: Why Did Former Illumina Scientists Start Another NGS Company?
2-1. It Began in 2017, with Discussions at a UC San Diego Library
The origins of Element Biosciences are particularly interesting.
In 2017, co-founders Michael Previte and Matthew Kellinger had left Illumina, the leading company in the NGS market, and were considering starting a new life sciences company.
They approached Molly He to discuss the idea.
Interestingly, their initial plan was not to develop an entirely new sequencing instrument.
Instead, they were considering a relatively small business focused on developing novel reagents for life sciences applications.
They had even registered the domain name "4-nomics."
However, as the three continued their discussions at a library at UC San Diego, the scope of their ambition expanded.
They began to believe that redesigning the entire sequencing system—including the chemistry, detection methods, instrumentation, and software—could have a much greater impact on scientific research than developing reagents alone.
In July 2017, the three founded Element Biosciences.[1][3]
2-2. The Complementary Strengths of the Three Founders
Element's founding team brought together several distinct areas of expertise.
Molly He — Co-founder and CEO
Molly He earned a Ph.D. in protein biophysics from UCLA.
She subsequently worked at Pacific Biosciences (PacBio), where she was involved in protein reagents for SMRT Sequencing.
She later served as Senior Director of Reagent Research and Development at Illumina.
Afterward, she became a Venture Partner at Foresite Capital, gaining experience in the investment industry.
At Element, she has played a central role in connecting deep technological expertise with fundraising, recruitment, and organizational development.[3]
Michael (Mike) Previte — Co-founder and CTO
Michael Previte previously worked at Illumina.
He is a technology-oriented founder who has led the development of sequencing platforms.
As of 2026, he serves as CTO and Senior Vice President of Advanced Research.[2]
Matthew (Matt) Kellinger — Co-founder
Matthew Kellinger also came from Illumina, with expertise in biochemistry and sequencing technologies.
He was among the key authors of the company's 2023 scientific publication describing Avidity Sequencing.
Initially focused on biochemical R&D, he has since expanded his responsibilities.
As of 2026, he serves as Senior Vice President of Product Strategy.[2][4]
This combination gave Element several important advantages from the outset.
- The founders had extensive practical experience in sequencing biochemistry and instrument development.
- Their backgrounds included both Illumina and PacBio, providing exposure to fundamentally different sequencing technologies.
- Molly He brought experience in venture capital and an established network of investors.
Developing an NGS instrument from scratch requires substantial upfront investment.
The costs extend well beyond the instrument itself. They include inventing new chemistry, establishing scalable manufacturing processes, creating reagent supply chains, and developing software and bioinformatics capabilities.
Element's founders understood these challenges and deliberately pursued a business model requiring substantial capital from an early stage.
2-3. What Problem Were They Trying to Solve?
The founders' central concern was not simply that sequencing was expensive.
At the time, research laboratories faced several obstacles to using NGS efficiently.
| Challenge | Element's Intended Solution |
|---|---|
| Instrument acquisition and operating costs | An affordable, high-quality benchtop sequencing system |
| Dependence on centralized core facilities | On-demand sequencing within individual laboratories |
| Sample batching and long turnaround times | Flexible sequencing with smaller sample volumes when needed |
| Reagent costs associated with high-accuracy sequencing | A new sequencing chemistry |
| Dependence on existing instruments and workflows | Integrated redesign of instrumentation, reagents, and informatics |
One particularly important aspect of this vision was the transition from centralized sequencing toward decentralized, laboratory-based sequencing.
Instead of sending samples to a large core facility and waiting until enough samples had accumulated for a sequencing run, researchers could perform sequencing themselves whenever their experiments required it.
This philosophy was explicitly discussed in interviews surrounding the launch of AVITI in 2022.[1]
3. The Technological Breakthrough: What Did Avidity Sequencing Change?
The most important technological innovation underlying Element Biosciences is its proprietary Sequencing by Avidity technology.
In May 2023, the company published a detailed description and performance evaluation of the technology in Nature Biotechnology.[4]
Key Publication
Arslan et al., "Sequencing by avidity enables high accuracy with low reagent consumption," Nature Biotechnology (2023).
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-023-01750-7
3-1. How Does It Differ from Conventional Illumina SBS?
In Illumina's conventional Sequencing by Synthesis (SBS), modified nucleotides are incorporated into a growing DNA strand, and their fluorescent labels are used to identify the incorporated bases.
Element's Avidity Sequencing takes a different approach.
It separates the biochemical reaction that advances the DNA strand by one nucleotide from the reaction used to identify the nucleotide.
In conventional SBS, incorporation of labeled nucleotides and fluorescence-based detection are closely linked.
In Avidity Sequencing, nucleotide identification is performed through multivalent binding, while extension of the DNA strand by one nucleotide occurs in a separate reaction.
A simplified Avidity Sequencing cycle consists of the following steps.
-
Formation of clonal DNA populations
Clonally amplified groups of DNA molecules, known as polonies, are formed on the flow cell. -
Base recognition using avidites
A multivalent molecule called an "avidite," containing multiple identical nucleotide ligands and fluorescent labels, binds to the complementary nucleotide position through a polymerase-mediated interaction. -
Fluorescence-based base identification
Fluorescence imaging is used to identify the base. Importantly, the avidite itself is not incorporated into the DNA strand. -
Extension and progression to the next cycle
After the avidite is removed, a separate reaction incorporates one unlabeled nucleotide, allowing the system to proceed to the next sequencing cycle.
The key principle is the avidity effect, in which multiple binding interactions collectively stabilize the association between molecules.
Because avidites exploit multivalent binding, they can achieve stable base recognition while requiring lower concentrations of labeled detection reagents than conventional monovalent labeled nucleotides.
3-2. What Were the Technical Advantages?
The 2023 Nature Biotechnology paper reported several notable findings.[4]
- The required concentration of labeled nucleotide reagents was reduced from the micromolar range to the nanomolar range.
- Across the reported sequencing data, 96.2% of base calls achieved Q30 or higher, while 85.4% achieved Q40 or higher.
- Error rates remained relatively stable following homopolymer regions.
- In an evaluation using the HG002 reference sample, the researchers reported an SNP F1 score of 0.9958 and a small-indel F1 score of 0.9954.
These results represent the performance demonstrated under the conditions evaluated in the publication.
They do not establish that Avidity Sequencing outperforms competing technologies under every experimental condition or across every application.
Nevertheless, the study demonstrated that redesigning the fundamental sequencing chemistry could potentially combine high sequencing accuracy with reduced reagent consumption.
3-3. Why This Matters Commercially
The significance of Avidity Sequencing extends beyond achieving Q40-level accuracy.
Its ability to optimize labeled-reagent consumption and nucleotide-extension chemistry independently has important implications for both product development and manufacturing costs.
This additional flexibility in chemical optimization can be interpreted as one of the technological foundations enabling Element's subsequent improvements, including Cloudbreak and UltraQ chemistry, as well as its expansion into higher-throughput instruments.
Another important point is that the innovation lies in the fundamental chemistry of DNA sequencing.
Element is not merely a company sourcing reagents from other suppliers and competing on instrument pricing.
It possesses proprietary foundational technology that can be extended into instruments, consumables, and software.
This gives the company a distinct technological position within the sequencing industry.
4. Product Evolution: From a Single Sequencer to an Integrated Analytical Ecosystem
Element's product portfolio has expanded from conventional NGS instruments into multiomics, high-throughput sequencing, and clinical diagnostics.[2]
The major products can be summarized as follows.
| Product | Announcement or Launch | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| AVITI | Launched in 2022 | Benchtop NGS instrument based on proprietary Avidity Sequencing technology |
| AVITI24 | Announced in 2024; shipments began in December 2024 | Extends DNA and RNA analysis to integrated measurements involving proteins, phosphoproteins, and cellular morphology |
| VITARI | Announced in February 2026 | High-throughput NGS system promoting a $100-per-genome cost target |
| Cytos | First shipments in October 2026 | AVITI24 workflow for measuring CRISPR guide RNAs, cellular morphology, protein expression, and whole-transcriptome information from the same cell |
| AVITI Dx | Commercialized in October 2026 | Element's first IVD platform designed for EU IVDR compliance, initially available in ten European countries |
For VITARI, Element announced in February 2026 that shipments were planned to begin during the second half of the year.
4-1. 2022–2023: Turning AVITI's Performance and Cost into Competitive Advantages
Following the introduction of AVITI, Element focused not only on improving its sequencing chemistry but also on enhancing the economics and usability of the platform.
| Date | Development | Commercial Significance |
|---|---|---|
| March 2022 | AVITI announcement | Entry into the commercial NGS instrument market |
| June 2022 | Initial customer shipments | Transition from R&D to a commercial product |
| August 2022 | Reagent price guarantee | Reduced concerns about future increases in operating costs |
| January 2023 | Announcement of a $200 genome | Emphasis on sequencing economics |
| 2023 | Cloudbreak chemistry | Improvements in speed, workflows, and sequencing quality |
| April 2023 | Global distribution agreements | Expansion into international markets through distributors alongside direct sales |
One particularly notable announcement came in January 2023, when Element introduced its $200 genome offering.[2]
However, this figure requires some context.
The $200 price represented a sequencing cost under a specified throughput-based purchasing model.
It should not be interpreted as the total cost of whole-genome analysis, including sample preparation, data analysis, instrument depreciation, personnel, and all other expenses.
In addition, the economics of sequencing instruments depend not only on the cost per run but also on sample numbers, required data output, and instrument utilization.
In this context, Element's emphasis on operational flexibility alongside lower sequencing costs had clear commercial significance.
4-2. 2024: Expanding into the Experimental Workflow Itself
The year 2024 marked a major shift in Element's strategy.
During this period, the company announced multiple products, sequencing chemistries, and workflow enhancements.[2]
Cloudbreak UltraQ
A sequencing chemistry emphasizing high accuracy, including performance at the Q50 level.
Cloudbreak Freestyle
An initiative intended to expand flexibility across supported sequencing workflows.
Trinity
A technology that transfers certain target-capture processes onto the sequencing instrument, reducing the time and manual effort required for exome sequencing.
Expert Mode HD
An instrument operating mode designed to increase read yield under appropriate conditions.
AVITI24 / Teton
A major expansion into integrated analysis of multiple cellular characteristics.
Trinity is particularly interesting because it incorporates exome-targeting products from companies such as IDT and Twist Bioscience.
This suggests that Element is not pursuing an exclusively in-house development strategy.
Instead, it is also leveraging compatibility and partnerships with other companies to expand its supported workflows.
4-3. Why AVITI24 Matters: From Nucleic Acid Analysis to Cellular Phenotypes
AVITI24 is not simply a higher-performance version of AVITI.
Traditionally, cellular imaging, gene expression analysis, protein analysis, and phosphoprotein measurements have often been performed using separate instruments and assay platforms.
As a result, integrating all of these measurements at the level of the same individual cell has been challenging.
Element aims to address this fragmentation through technologies including Teton and Direct In Sample Sequencing (DISS).
The potential scientific value is substantial.
For example, researchers studying cells exposed to a drug treatment or CRISPR perturbation could investigate not only changes in gene expression but also relationships among proteins, cellular morphology, and phenotypes.
Cytos, which began shipping in October 2026, extends this direction further.
It is designed to obtain CRISPR guide RNA information, cellular morphology, protein expression, and whole-transcriptome measurements from the same cell.
Linking gRNA identity to cellular phenotype at the single-cell level could be particularly valuable for pooled genetic screening and phenotypic drug discovery.
However, important performance characteristics—including molecular coverage, detection sensitivity, the number of cells that can be processed, cost, and comparisons with alternative platforms—require independent evaluation.
The introduction of this product family suggests that Element increasingly views sequencing not as an end in itself, but as a tool for acquiring more complex biological information.
5. Financing Evolution: How Did Element Raise So Much Capital?
Element does not follow the typical model of a small biotechnology company that commercializes scientific discoveries primarily through technology licensing.
Instead, it develops its own instruments, chemistry, manufacturing processes, software, and distribution networks.
Its business model also includes recurring sales of reagents and consumables associated with installed instruments.
This approach requires substantial investment before commercialization.
5-1. Funding History
The major publicly reported funding rounds are summarized below.[3][9]
| Year | Round | Amount Raised | Major Investors and Intended Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Seed | Approximately $5 million | Initial laboratory establishment and early R&D |
| 2019 | Series A | $15 million | Foresite Capital and Venrock; transition from proof of concept to instrument prototyping |
| 2020 | Series B | Approximately $80.3 million | Fidelity, JS Capital, and existing investors; instrument development and manufacturing processes |
| 2020 | Additional financing | Approximately $30 million | RA Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, and others |
| 2021 | Series C | $276 million | Expansion of institutional investor participation; large-scale investment ahead of commercialization |
| 2024 | Series D | More than $277 million | Led by Wellington Management, with Samsung and others; expansion of NGS and multiomics operations |
| 2026 | Series E | $175 million plus an undisclosed amount | Samsung and other investors; global expansion, VITARI, and clinical and multiomics businesses |
There are some differences between the timing of fundraising preparations described in an Inc. article and the formal announcement dates of the Series A and Series B rounds.
The table prioritizes formal announcement dates.
All funding amounts should be treated as approximate.
5-2. Phase One: 2017–2020 — Venture Capital Willing to Take Technological Risks
During the early stages, Foresite Capital and Venrock played central roles in financing Element.
The relationship between Foresite Capital and Molly He is particularly noteworthy.
He had previously served as a Venture Partner at Foresite, giving her experience in both sequencing technology and venture investing.
Bryan Roberts of Venrock was also an early investor in Illumina.
In other words, Element received support from investors who understood not only the scientific challenges of developing competing sequencing technology, but also the capital requirements and market structure of the NGS industry.[3]
For a company facing a lengthy, capital-intensive development process before commercial launch, this experience was likely highly valuable.
5-3. Phase Two: 2021–2024 — Participation by Growth and Institutional Investors
The Series C round brought in investors including T. Rowe Price, Morgan Stanley-affiliated funds, Janus Henderson, and Meritech.
At this stage, the central question was no longer limited to whether the underlying technology could work.
Increasingly, investors needed to evaluate whether the technology could become a viable commercial product and business.
In 2024, Wellington Management led the Series D round, with Samsung also participating.
The financing was intended to support growth in Element's global customer base and commercialization of its DNA sequencing and multiomics products.[2]
The evolution of Element's investor base reflected its transition from a high-risk technology development venture to a company seeking to demonstrate commercial growth.
5-4. Phase Three: 2026 — Strategic Investment to Support Broader Applications
In June 2026, Samsung Electronics invested an additional $175 million in Element.[9]
Samsung identified Element's NGS, multiomics, and clinical applications as important technologies for the future of precision medicine.
This investment suggests that Element is increasingly being evaluated not merely as an NGS instrument manufacturer, but as a broader platform company serving life sciences and precision medicine.
However, the announcement does not establish the precise scope of any joint development activities or commercial agreements between Samsung and Element.
6. Organizational Evolution: From an R&D Startup to a Global Instrumentation Company
6-1. Changes in Employee Headcount
Element began with three co-founders.
By 2026, external estimates placed its workforce at approximately 450 employees.
Revelio Labs estimated the following employee counts.
| Period | Estimated Employees |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 347 |
| 2024 | 425 |
| 2025 | 449 |
| Q1 2026 | 458 |
These figures are external estimates rather than officially confirmed employee counts.
A founder interview in 2024, for example, described the company as having approximately 320 employees.
Differences in methodology, timing, and coverage should therefore be considered.
More important than the employee count itself is the changing range of capabilities required as the company grew.
| Period | Organizational Capabilities Required |
|---|---|
| 2017–2020 | Biochemistry, polymerases, optics, mechanical engineering, and software |
| 2021–2022 | Manufacturing, quality assurance, supply chain management, and field support |
| 2022–2024 | Global sales, applications support, key opinion leader engagement, and customer development |
| 2024–2025 | Single-cell multiomics and application development for pharmaceutical customers |
| 2025–2026 | Clinical quality management, diagnostic regulations, and business development for pharmaceutical and drug discovery markets |
This table represents an interpretation of publicly available product and organizational information.
It is not a reconstruction of actual departmental headcounts or hiring records.
6-2. Changes in Leadership and the Board of Directors
As of 2026, all three founders continued to hold major leadership positions.
The publicly identified management team included the following individuals.[2]
| Name | Position in 2026 |
|---|---|
| Molly He | CEO, Co-founder, and Board Member |
| Michael Previte | CTO and SVP of Advanced Research |
| Matthew Kellinger | SVP of Product Strategy |
| Logan Zinser | CFO |
| Danae Van Oene | SVP, Global Commercial |
| Jeff Labbadia | Chief Supply Chain Officer |
| Yaron Hakak | SVP, Corporate and Business Development |
This leadership structure illustrates how Element has evolved.
The founders continue to provide leadership in core technology, while specialized executives oversee commercialization, supply chains, financing, and corporate partnerships.
The composition of the board has also changed.
May 2025
Madhuri Hegde, an expert in clinical molecular genetics and Chief Scientific Officer of Revvity, joined the board.
August 2026
Mikael Dolsten, who previously led research and development at Pfizer, joined the board.
These appointments are particularly revealing.
They suggest that Element is strengthening its expertise in clinical genomics implementation and pharmaceutical research and development at the board level.
6-3. Acquiring Technology and Talent Through M&A
Element has not developed every technology entirely in-house.
In February 2022, it acquired Loop Genomics.
Loop Genomics had developed synthetic long-read technology capable of obtaining long-range sequence information using short-read sequencing instruments.
The acquisition gave Element an opportunity to extend the utility of AVITI's high-accuracy short reads into applications requiring longer-range molecular information.
These included haplotyping, immune repertoire analysis, and microbial community studies.
Following the acquisition, Tuval Ben-Yehezkel, the founder of Loop Genomics, joined Element as Senior Director, Applications.
The acquisition price was not publicly disclosed.
7. Challenges Element Has Faced—and How It Responded
Element's history illustrates that technical success does not automatically translate into commercial success.
Five challenges are especially important: customer adoption, competition with Illumina, capital-intensive hardware development, intellectual property, and the transition from research applications to clinical diagnostics.
7-1. Challenge One: Building a Better Sequencer Was Not Enough to Convince Customers to Switch
One of Element's major challenges between 2022 and 2024 was discovering that commercializing an instrument and persuading customers to adopt it were two different problems.
In a 2024 interview with Entrepreneur, Molly He reflected on the company's initial assumption that superior performance and competitive pricing would be sufficient to drive sales.[5]
In reality, sales slowed after the product launch.
For NGS users, replacing a sequencer involves much more than buying a new instrument.
Laboratories must consider existing library preparation methods, analysis pipelines, quality standards, comparability with historical datasets, training requirements, experimental reproducibility, and maintenance and service arrangements.
In many cases, the perceived risk of adopting a new platform from an emerging company exceeds the perceived risk of continuing to use existing equipment.
Element responded by substantially revising its commercial strategy.
Response 1: Building Customer Trust
The company prioritized early adopters and influential organizations within the industry.
It worked to establish real-world customer references and strengthened its dedicated sales organization.
Response 2: Allowing Customers to Validate Performance Themselves
Element introduced evaluation programs in which potential customers could sequence their own samples and compare the results with their existing Illumina data.
According to the company's account at the time of the interview, approximately half of the customers who completed an evaluation went on to purchase the instrument.[5]
Response 3: Reducing the Burden of Switching
Element improved compatibility with existing libraries and workflows to reduce the changes required on the customer side.
This strategic shift can be viewed as one of the factors behind Element's reported revenue of more than $25 million in 2023 and more than 160 commercial AVITI orders by early 2024.[5][8]
However, the increase in revenue cannot be attributed exclusively to changes in the sales strategy.
The broader lesson is important:
A new scientific instrument is not adopted simply because its technical specifications are better. Reducing customers' perceived risks and the amount of work required for adoption can be just as important.
7-2. Challenge Two: Competing Against Illumina's Enormous Installed Base
According to a STAT report published in 2024, Illumina controlled approximately 80% of the sequencing market at the time and had more than 23,000 instruments in operation.[6]
By comparison, Element reported approximately 150 AVITI installations across more than 25 countries as of May 2024.
The same report described AVITI as costing approximately $289,000, compared with approximately $335,000 for the NextSeq 2000.[6]
Under these conditions, price differences alone were unlikely to displace the dominant incumbent's installed base.
Element therefore pursued product differentiation that went beyond pricing.
The introduction of AVITI24 in 2024 represents this strategy particularly well.
Instead of competing exclusively within conventional short-read NGS, Element began integrating cellular imaging and molecular measurements to create reasons for customers to purchase a platform that went beyond the capabilities of a traditional sequencer.
This can be interpreted as a transition from competing to deliver similar sequencing functionality at a lower price toward competing on the biological information that an experiment can produce.
7-3. Challenge Three: Sustaining a Capital-Intensive Hardware Business
Unlike software or certain reagent-based businesses, commercializing an NGS instrument requires much more than completing a prototype.
A manufacturer must establish reliable optics, fluidics, precise temperature control, long-term reagent stability, lot-to-lot reproducibility, maintenance infrastructure, and acceptable manufacturing yields.
Element addressed these challenges through large funding rounds beginning at an early stage.
Approximately five years passed between the company's founding in 2017 and the commercial launch of its first sequencing instrument in 2022.
Element also established a new headquarters in 2022 and expanded commercial operations, including supply and maintenance capabilities, following the product launch.[1][2]
These developments indicate that the company successfully navigated major technical and operational barriers to commercialization.
However, publicly available information does not establish whether Element has reached profitability or positive free cash flow.
7-4. Challenge Four: Intellectual Property and Legal Disputes
Competition with Illumina has extended into patent litigation and antitrust disputes.
In September 2025, Element filed litigation against Illumina alleging anticompetitive conduct and patent infringement.
Element argued that Illumina had used exclusionary commercial arrangements and discounts to restrict competition.
These were allegations made by one party, however, and should not be interpreted as established findings of unlawful conduct.
In May 2026, a U.S. court granted dismissal of the antitrust complaint while allowing the possibility of an amended filing.
It would therefore be incorrect to characterize the proceeding as an antitrust victory for Element at that stage.
Meanwhile, in July 2026, Element announced that a Munich court in Germany had found Illumina to have infringed patents held by Element.
The finality and enforceability of that judgment would require separate verification.
Additional intellectual property disputes also emerged as Element expanded into multiomics.
In May 2026, 10x Genomics and other parties filed patent infringement claims involving technologies associated with AVITI24.
Element denied those allegations.
This development is significant.
In conventional NGS, Element competes with Illumina.
As it expands into single-cell and multiomics technologies, however, it increasingly operates in areas involving intellectual property associated with companies such as 10x Genomics.
As its technology portfolio broadens, freedom to operate (FTO), cross-licensing arrangements, and litigation cost management are likely to become increasingly important business considerations.
7-5. Challenge Five: Moving from Research Instruments into Clinical Diagnostics
Research-use-only (RUO) instruments and in vitro diagnostic (IVD) instruments operate under different regulatory and quality assurance requirements.
In June 2026, Element obtained ISO 13485 certification.
In October of the same year, it commercialized AVITI Dx in ten European countries.[2]
AVITI Dx was announced as a Class A IVD sequencing system carrying CE marking under the European Union's In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR).
This represents an important milestone in Element's transition from a research instrumentation company toward a platform provider capable of supporting regulated clinical laboratory applications.
However, CE marking of an IVD instrument does not mean that every individual diagnostic assay or clinical application performed using that instrument has been independently approved.
8. What Can We Actually Confirm About Element's Commercial Performance?
Element has selectively disclosed revenue and instrument installation figures.
However, because it is privately held, comprehensive financial performance data are not consistently available.
The following publicly reported indicators provide a partial picture of its commercial progress.
| Period | Reported Commercial Performance |
|---|---|
| End of 2023 | More than 160 commercial AVITI orders, 112 installed instruments, and revenue exceeding $25 million |
| May 2024 | Approximately 150 AVITI installations across more than 25 countries |
| July 2025 | More than 50 AVITI24 installations |
| Full-year 2025 | Clinical research reportedly accounted for more than 25% of revenue, according to materials released in 2026 |
| Full-year 2025 | AVITI24 reportedly accounted for more than 35% of new instrument orders |
These figures indicate changes in the composition of Element's business.[2][6][8][9]
First, AVITI24 accounting for more than 35% of new instrument orders suggests that the company's new product category has achieved a meaningful level of customer interest.
Second, the reported contribution of clinical research to more than 25% of revenue suggests that Element's customer base has expanded beyond its initial emphasis on academic research toward applications closer to clinical implementation.
However, several important metrics remain insufficiently disclosed.
These include gross margins, recurring reagent consumption, instrument utilization rates, repeat purchases, operating income, and cash burn.
Growth in the installed base is not the same as demonstrating the ability to operate a highly profitable business over the long term.
9. Strategic Analysis: What Has Element Biosciences Become?
Element's history reveals three strategic transformations that go beyond the typical growth trajectory of an NGS startup.
9-1. Differentiation Has Shifted from Sequencing Performance to Biological Information Content
The company's technological value proposition has evolved as follows.
| Period | Value Proposition | Primary Objective |
|---|---|---|
| 2017–2022 | Better Sequencing | Improve accuracy, cost, and usability |
| 2023–2024 | Better Workflows | Reduce the burden of sample preparation and analysis |
| 2024–2026 | Richer Biology | Reveal relationships among genes, proteins, and cellular phenotypes |
| 2026 onward | Integrated Research and Clinical Applications | Develop foundational platforms for drug discovery and clinical laboratory applications |
This evolution does not mean that Element is abandoning its short-read NGS business.
Rather, the company appears to be maintaining and improving its core sequencing technology while building additional products and applications on top of it.
Its transformation can therefore be understood as a progression from instrument performance to experimental workflows, and ultimately toward the integration of biological information.
9-2. The Biggest Management Lesson: Technological Superiority Is Not the Same as Market Success
One of the most interesting aspects of Element's story is that its founders possessed exceptional technological expertise, yet initially underestimated the psychological and operational barriers that customers faced when considering a new platform.[5]
The company's response went beyond improving the instrument.
It provided opportunities for customers to validate performance, reduced migration costs, cultivated trusted customer references, and strengthened its sales organization.
This experience offers a broader lesson for companies developing scientific instruments.
The value of an instrument to researchers is not determined by technical specifications alone.
Experimental stability, compatibility with historical data, workflow continuity, technical support, and confidence in long-term supply can all strongly influence purchasing decisions.
These factors may be especially important in NGS, where an instrument often serves as a foundational platform for a laboratory's research activities.
9-3. Future Competition Will Be Determined by More Than Instrument Performance
Five areas deserve particular attention when evaluating Element's future.
1. VITARI Commercialization and High-Throughput Economics
Can Element deliver its advertised $100-per-genome economics under real-world conditions, accounting for instrument utilization and total cost of ownership?
The key question is not simply whether a nominal per-genome cost is achievable, but whether the system delivers compelling economics in actual laboratory operations.
2. Experimental Advantages of AVITI24 and Cytos
Does the depth of information obtained from the same cell provide sufficient value compared with established single-cell analysis and imaging-based screening technologies?
Meaningful comparisons will need to consider sensitivity, coverage, cell throughput, and cost.
3. Recurring Revenue from Consumables
Will growth in installed instruments translate into recurring reagent sales and stable cash flow?
Instrument utilization and continuing consumables purchases may become more informative indicators than installation counts alone.
4. Expansion of the IVD Business
How widely will AVITI Dx be adopted in Europe, and will Element extend regulatory compliance to additional geographic markets?
The extent to which clinical diagnostics becomes a meaningful source of growth remains an important question.
5. Management of Competition and Intellectual Property Risks
How will disputes involving Illumina and 10x Genomics affect customer adoption, product development, and financial performance?
As Element expands into single-cell multiomics, securing freedom to operate may become increasingly important.
The outcomes of these developments should help clarify whether Element remains primarily an alternative supplier in the NGS market or evolves into a broader life sciences platform company spanning sequencing, multiomics, and clinical applications.
10. What We Can Learn from the Journey of Element Biosciences
The approximately nine-year history of Element Biosciences can be summarized as the story of a company that entered the genomics market by reinventing fundamental NGS chemistry, then used that technological foundation to expand into increasingly complex forms of biological analysis.
Five turning points are particularly important.
2017: Expansion of the Founding Vision
Element evolved from an initial concept focused on reagent development into a much more ambitious effort to redesign the entire sequencing system.
2022: Commercialization of AVITI
After approximately five years of development, the company launched its first commercial sequencing instrument based on proprietary Avidity Sequencing technology.
2022–2024: Transformation of the Commercial Strategy
The company recognized that superior performance and lower pricing alone were insufficient to drive customer adoption.
It responded by emphasizing customer validation, reducing migration barriers, and strengthening its sales organization.
2024: Introduction of AVITI24
Element expanded beyond competition based on DNA sequencing performance and began integrating multiple molecular measurements with cellular phenotypes.
2026: Expansion into VITARI, Cytos, and AVITI Dx
The company broadened its portfolio into high-throughput sequencing, single-cell multiomics, and clinical diagnostics, while also receiving additional investment from Samsung.
Element has demonstrated that it is possible to develop proprietary sequencing chemistry into a commercial product and establish a customer base in a market dominated by an entrenched industry leader.
The next challenge is different.
The company must demonstrate that its expanding product portfolio can support a financially sustainable business and that technological differentiation can be translated into durable customer relationships.
That outcome has not yet been established.
Element Biosciences provides a particularly instructive example of how a new life sciences instrumentation company can connect fundamental biochemical innovation, instrument engineering, fundraising, market entry, and expansion into new applications.
It is worth following not only as an NGS instrument manufacturer, but also as a company whose development may offer insights into the changing technological foundations of genomics research and the future of integrated biological measurement.
References
[1] Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, "Old Dogs, New Tricks: Element Biosciences Launches the AVITI," 2022. https://www.genengnews.com/topics/omics/old-dogs-new-tricks-element-biosciences-launches-the-aviti/
[2] Element Biosciences, "About Element Biosciences," Official Company Website, Corporate History, and Product Information. https://www.elementbiosciences.com/about
[3] Sydney Sladovnik, "How a Genetic Science Startup Secured $406M in Funding, Starting With Just an Idea and a Few Sketches," Inc., 2024. https://www.inc.com/magazine/202404/sydney-sladovnik/how-a-genetic-science-startup-secured-406m-in-funding-starting-with-just-an-idea-and-a-few-sketches.html
[4] Arslan et al., "Sequencing by avidity enables high accuracy with low reagent consumption," Nature Biotechnology, 2023. DOI: 10.1038/s41587-023-01750-7. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-023-01750-7
[5] Entrepreneur, "Her Startup's Product Was Better and Cheaper Than the Competition's. Why Wasn't It Selling?," 2024. https://www.entrepreneur.com/starting-a-business/her-startups-product-was-better-and-cheaper-than-the/476505
[6] STAT, Reporting on Element Biosciences CEO Molly He, the AVITI Sequencer, and Competition with Illumina, May 14, 2024. https://www.statnews.com/2024/05/14/element-biosciences-ceo-molly-he-aviti-sequencer-illumina-rival/
[7] Element Biosciences, Official Corporate Website, Product Announcements, and News Releases. https://www.elementbiosciences.com/about
[8] Element Biosciences, Company Announcements Regarding 2023 Revenue, AVITI Installations, and Commercial Orders, 2024. https://www.elementbiosciences.com/about
[9] Element Biosciences, "Element Biosciences Announces Upsized Series E to Accelerate Global Growth Across Ecosystem of Genomic, Multiomic and Clinical Research Solutions," 2026. https://www.elementbiosciences.com/news/element-biosciences-announces-upsized-series-e-to-accelerate-global-growth-across-ecosystem-of-genomic-multiomic-and-clinical-research-solutions
*Editorial note: This article is based on publicly available information through November 3, 2026.