MedGenome, the leading genetic diagnostics, research and data company focused on expanding access for populations in South Asia and other emerging markets today announced an investment of USD 55m led by LeapFrog Investments, a leading specialist investor in emerging markets. Existing investors Sofina and Sequoia also participated in the round.

MedGenome has partnered with Thermo Fisher Scientific to genotype hundreds of thousands of South Asian cohorts using a custom genotyping array. The personalized medicine company hopes to use the new array to inform new consumer and clinical tests, while also making it available to others for research.

Researchers from the GenomeAsia 100K Project have begun to develop a reference dataset of genomes from individuals living in Asia, with the goal of boosting the representation of Asians in genomic research.

MedGenome has introduced the South Asian Research Genotyping Array, which leverages MedGenome’s proprietary database of 2.5 million variants unique to the South Asian population and not available in any publicly available genetic database.