10x Genomics is bolstering its commitment to scaling single cell experiments through the acquisition of Scale Biosciences. 10x has agreed to pay $30 million in cash and stock upfront, plus an undisclosed amount in additional payments tied to achieving milestones, Serge Saxonov, PhD, CEO of 10x, told GEN in an exclusive interview. Scale’s technology, and the company, will be integrated into 10x.
“I was excited from the first mention of the deal,” notes Giovanna Prout, CEO of Scale Biosciences. “10x is a market leader with global market reach. As a tiny, private company of less than 50 people, I am really excited to see our technology as part of that engine.”
“Innovation is at the core of what we do at Scale,” she explains. “And that is shared by 10x. I’ve never seen 10x not innovate! If this were some other large genomics companies, I would be really afraid to make this deal. But that wasn’t a worry of mine here.”
Saxonov agrees: “For us, it’s about innovation. This is a technology acquisition to drive innovation forward. We drive innovation internally here at 10x. But we are respectful of technology that happens outside our walls. When we find that, we work hard to partner and bring them into the company. It became clear that Scale has really great technology that we would love to be part of 10x and will help us deliver our roadmap. The result is a long-term alignment of visions.”
San Diego-based Scale Bio’s split-pool combinatorial barcoding approach touts the ability to increase the scale and plex of single cell experiments. The companies core products are: QuantumScale Single Cell RNA Kits that enable instrument-free single cell barcoding, ScalePlex which allows researchers to pool samples prior to washing, and a Single Cell Methylation Kit—the first commercial solution for detecting single cell methylation states.
Although Saxonov recognizes that there are multiple areas of interest in Scale’s technology, he cites the increase in scale as his primary focus. And although 10x will support Scale’s products and their current customers, the goal is to integrate the tech into the Chromium portfolio to deliver new capabilities.
A natural evolution
“When I entered as CEO, my intentions were to go big or go home,” notes Prout. “That is, to develop a very differentiated technology that could impact human health and make a difference. And, ultimately, to go public. But the market is hugely different now than even two years ago. Overall, the macro environment is probably one of the worst I’ve seen in my career. And that forces you to make different decisions.”
“10x has a reach that Scale doesn’t,” explains Garry Nolan, PhD, co-founder of Scale Biosciences and professor at Stanford University. “Why fight it? Why not work with a company that can bring it to the most people? Why let a wonderful tech go the way of the dinosaurs because the market is in a downturn right now?”
Nolan is a serial entrepreneur. When asked how many companies he has started, he decides on “more than half a dozen” (not quite able to remember the exact number).
For Nolan, this acquisition is simply the next step in the evolution of the technology. The quantum barcoding technology, which he patented in 2011, was first commercialized as the company Apprise which was sold to Roche Diagnostics in 2017. Scale was spun out of Roche a few years later because it was seen as more of a platform technology.
“When the technology was at Roche, moving it to 10x was one of my dreams,” Nolan explains. Nolan also developed the spatial CODEX technology at the heart of Akoya Biosciences. And although Nolan tried to merge the spatial technology at Akoya with the single cell technology at Scale, “it was almost impossible,” he states. But he sees the possibility of bringing them together being realized as Scale’s technology gets integrated into 10x, which also offers spatial technology such as Xenium.
“We have all these data. We have imaging. We have single cell. We have epigenetic opportunity. And 10x is the place to bring them all together,” he asserts. “I don’t see another place to do it.”
Small world
It is not unusual, in the genomics field, to find people who have worked in multiple companies within the industry. Like seasoned chefs, they move between different kitchens, learning the tricks of different cuisines. Prout is no exception. A veteran in the space, she spent more than twelve years at Illumina before moving to a role at 10x genomics for four years (from 2017 to 2022).
We have “known Giovanna forever” says Saxonov, as he cites many productive interactions over the years. Indeed, both 10x and Scale were partners in CZI’s Billion Cell Initiative announced earlier this year.
That said, relationships need to be set aside when dealmaking. Prout explains that having worked at 10x previously, she “had to separate all of that out. Whether it’s good or bad. It’s my responsibility as a CEO to not bring back that connection.”
Saxonov adds that the deal was made based on “fundamentals of the strategy” and a shared vision.
Prout agrees: “There are common goals between all of us in this industry. We have a passion and a connection to do good for the research community to impact human health. Those are the core things that are driving all of us.”
A goodbye full of pride
“We built something special at Scale,” notes Prout. “We were doing great things; we pushed the market in single cell and that leaves a good feeling.”
Scale was the gasoline, Prout explains, that was thrown on the single cell flame to ignite big projects. She cites the 100 Million Cell Challenge, announced by the company last fall, as the instigator of the large scale projects that followed: CZI’s Billion Cell Project and the Arc Institute’s Virtual Cell Atlas single cell initiative, for example.
“Changes will come and they [10x] may take the technology in a different direction,” Prout tells GEN. “Who knows where it will go? But I’ll get to watch and see how it goes.”
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