New capital brings primary-cell functional data to more discovery teams, on demand

MONTREAL, Oct. 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- DropGenie, a functional biology company generating decision-ready discovery data from patient-derived cells, has secured $5 million in Seed+ financing. BDC Thrive Venture Fund invested alongside Skeleton Key, with participation from Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, CQDM, Real Ventures and Anges Quebec.

The financing accelerates commercialization of DropGenie's first product, which miniaturizes gene editing workflows to enable high-efficiency edits directly in primary patient cells, using up to 100 times fewer cells and far less reagent than conventional workflows. The product is already being integrated into workflows at major global pharma, biotech, and research organizations. Building on that foundation, DropGenie is expanding how customers can work with the company: running protocols in their own labs, partnering to run studies as a service, or forming strategic data partnerships that build standardized functional datasets from primary patient cells.

"Primary human cells hold the answers drug developers need, but they've been too scarce to study at scale," said Alison Hirukawa, Co-founder and CEO of DropGenie. "We make those experiments practical, and BDC Thrive Fund helps us bring that to more teams, faster."

BDC's $350 million Thrive Venture Fund invests in women-led Canadian technology companies from pre-seed through Series B. Its investment in DropGenie's Seed+ financing adds a long-term Canadian partner at the board level as the company scales.

"DropGenie is building critical infrastructure for the future of drug discovery by making high-quality, human-relevant biological data more accessible and scalable," said Mona Minhas, Managing Partner, BDC Thrive Venture Fund. "We see an opportunity to build a globally important company from Canada, and Alison has the scientific depth, ambition and vision to lead it. We're proud to back her and the DropGenie team as they scale globally."

"We look for science companies that are accelerating discovery with innovative technology and DropGenie is doing just that by generating reliable experimentation data to enable the adaptation of AI-assisted innovation in the future," said Ann Lai, Managing Partner of Skeleton Key. "We're excited to have BDC Thrive Fund join the Board and show support for a homegrown deep-tech company."

DropGenie is working with leading partners across primary-cell applications ahead of its broader rollout early next year. Teams looking to generate functional data through the platform, services, or data partnerships can learn more at www.dropgenie.com.

About DropGenie

DropGenie is a functional biology company making large-scale experiments in primary patient cells practical. Its automated microfluidic platform uses up to 100 times fewer cells than conventional methods, and the company offers that capability as a service and through strategic data partnerships. Based in Montreal and Boston, DropGenie supports cell therapy, functional genomics, and AI-driven drug development. Learn more at www.dropgenie.com.

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SOURCE DropGenie