Volta Labs, Inc.

In 2018, Volta Labs was born in the halls of MIT with a clear mission: to unlock the utility of genomics for the world.\Previously nestled in the vibrant hub of Kendall Square, known as "the most innovative square mile on the planet," we quickly became immersed in the dynamic biotech culture. After numerous conversations with other scientists and hours of research, we discovered that trailblazing biologists were being held back by the constraints of existing automation tools, particularly in the realm of DNA sequencing. While DNA readout technologies surged ahead, the upstream steps of sample preparation (sample prep) lagged behind.\During Founder Udayan Umapathi’s graduate stint at the MIT Media Lab, what began as a humble printed circuit board to manipulate colorful droplets soon evolved into a solutionfor the notorious "sample prep bottleneck." Propelled into action, we secured funding from top-tier VCs and got to work.

Since the company was funded coming our YC in Winter 2019, our focus has been laser-sharp in the lab, where we've been busy inventing and constructing groundbreaking fluidic and sample manipulation technologies. We embrace an anti-disciplinary approach, tackling the toughest challenges by seamlessly integrating instrumentation, fluidics, software, biology, and chemistry. While we're currently channelling our energies into sequencing sample prep, our grand vision extends beyond – envisioning a future where a single universal machine automates the lion's share of biological workflows in genomics, proteomics, and synthetic biology.\At Volta, we're not just shaping the future of genomics; we're engineering it. Join us in harnessing the power of biology and technology to change the world.

We are in the midst of a genomic revolution. From 1999 to 2000, the Human Genome Project generated the first “draft” human genome, which cost ~$300 million across 20 labs worldwide. It took another three years, and hundreds of millions of dollars, to produce a human genome that was ~90% complete, as complete as the technologies for sequencing DNA allowed at the time. In 2023, a scientist can sequence a genome at a bench for hundreds of dollars in a day. The adoption of sequencing technologies across new applications only continues to accelerate as it becomes easier, faster, and cheaper. \Despite these advancements, preparing samples for sequencing remains a significant bottleneck. We believe that disruptive innovations are needed in sample prep to unlock the true utility of genomics. With the new reality of the $200 genome (sequencing cost alone), sample prep is becoming a more significant burden on labs than ever before.