Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota / Bloomberg
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota / Bloomberg
The genetic testing company Invitae Corp. plans to raise nearly $ 1.2 billion from investors, including SoftBank Group Corp., with an announcement planned for Monday, informed Dow Jones.
The investment will be in the form of convertible debt and aims to help Invitae expand the use of its platform, the publication said. Shares in the San Francisco-based company have tripled in the past 12 months and closed Thursday at $ 39.19 in US trades, bringing its market valuation to $ 7.7 billion.
The founder of SoftBank, Masayoshi Son, has expanded its investments in publicly traded companies in recent months, including in Amazon.com Inc., Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc. The Japanese billionaire had previously created a $ 100 billion Vision Fund to invest in private startups, placing bets on companies like Didi Chuxing and DoorDash Inc.
Bloomberg News first reported in February that SoftBank planned to expand its investments in biotechnology and health. As of December 31, the company’s public stakes included Pacific Biosciences of California Inc., 4D Molecular Therapeutics Inc. and AbCellera Biologics Inc.