Benchling
Benchling helps biotech and pharma R&D teams accelerate research with unified lab software.
Benchling is a unified cloud platform that enables research and development teams to design, document, and manage biological experiments from discovery to bioprocessing. The platform integrates electronic lab notebooks, DNA/protein sequence design tools, sample inventory management, and data analytics in a single system. Scientists at organizations like Gilead, Sanofi, and Regeneron use Benchling to reduce administrative overhead by 63% and accelerate research timelines. Its key differentiator is native integration of molecular biology design tools with enterprise lab informatics, eliminating the need for separate ELN, LIMS, and registry systems.
Problem solved
Scientists spend excessive time on administrative tasks, data fragmentation across disconnected systems, and lack visibility into experimental workflows and sample inventory.
Target customer
Large biotech and pharmaceutical companies, mid-market research organizations, and early-stage life sciences startups conducting drug discovery, biologics development, or agricultural research.
Founders
S
Sajith Wickramasekara
Founder & CEO
MIT-trained electrical engineer and computer scientist who took leave from undergraduate studies in 2012 after realizing labs relied on pen and paper; previously researched at Liquidia Technologies and Duke University Medical Center.
A
Ashu Singhal
Co-Founder & President
Met Sajith at MIT in freshman year; co-founded Benchling in April 2012.
Funding history
Seed 1
$900K
February 2014
Led by Y Combinator
· Rock Health, SV Angel, Draper
Seed 2
Unknown
August 2014
Led by Rock Health
· Unknown
Series A
$5M
2015
Led by Andreessen Horowitz
· Unknown
Series B
Unknown
June 2018
Led by Benchmark
· F-Prime Capital, Fidelity Investments
Series C
$34.5M
July 2019
Led by Lead Edge Capital
· Menlo Ventures
Series D
$50M
May 2020
Led by Spark Capital
· Benchmark Email, ICONIQ Growth, Alkeon Capital Management, Lux Capital
Series E
$200M
April 2021
Led by Sequoia Capital Global Equities
· Altimeter Capital, Byers Capital, Elad Gil
Series F
$100M
November 2021
Led by Franklin Templeton
· Altimeter Capital, Tiger Global, Lone Pine Capital
Total raised:
$412M
Industries
Pricing
Free for academics (Notebook, CRISPR, Molecular Biology, Primer Design, Sequence Alignments). Benchling for Startups: starts at $15K/year. Enterprise: custom pricing, typically $1M+ for large organizations.
Notable customers
Gilead Sciences, Sanofi, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Corteva Agrisciences, Sana Biotechnology, Cutiss AG, Selexis SA, Syngenta
Integrations
Pre-built instrument connectors, no-code integration builder for lab equipment
Website
Competitors
DNA Script
Competitor in DNA synthesis and design space; Benchling integrates broader lab workflows beyond just molecular design.
DNAnexus
Focuses on genomics data analysis and cloud infrastructure; Benchling provides integrated lab operations and experiment management.
Genedata
Legacy informatics vendor with separate modules; Benchling offers unified platform with native molecular biology tools.
BenchSci
AI-powered search tool for research; Benchling provides comprehensive lab operations platform with design, tracking, and analytics.
Why this matters: Benchling has achieved significant scale ($412M raised, $6.1B valuation as of 2021) by solving a critical pain point—fragmented lab informatics in biotech—with a modern, integrated platform. The company demonstrates strong product-market fit across enterprise biotech and pharma, with customers seeing measurable productivity gains (e.g., 63% reduction in admin time at Gilead), making it a key infrastructure platform in the digitization of life sciences R&D.
Best for: Biotech and pharmaceutical R&D organizations seeking to consolidate fragmented lab informatics systems and accelerate time-to-discovery through unified experiment design, documentation, and inventory management.
Use cases
Accelerating Drug Discovery Workflows
A biotech company uses Benchling's Notebook to document molecular biology experiments, Registry to track protein and antibody constructs with lineage tracking, and Molecular Biology tools to design CRISPR edits. The unified system reduces context-switching between tools and accelerates design-build-test cycles.
Reducing Administrative Overhead
Gilead scientists use Benchling to spend 63% less time on administrative tasks through automated experiment templates, structured data capture, and integrated inventory tracking. This frees up scientists to focus on high-value research rather than data entry and sample management.
Enabling Cross-Functional Collaboration
Multi-site biotech firms use Benchling's cloud platform to centralize experiment records, sample inventory, and approval workflows. Researchers in different locations can instantly access DNA sequences, reagent availability, and experiment history without email chains or local file systems.
Alternatives
Verily
Broader life sciences data and diagnostics company; less specialized for lab operations and experiment design compared to Benchling's focused platform.
Helix
Consumer genetic testing and data platform; not designed for enterprise R&D laboratory workflows and scientific research.
Genuity Science
Cloud research infrastructure provider; Benchling emphasizes integrated lab operations and molecular design tools over infrastructure.
FAQ
What does Benchling do? +
Benchling is a unified cloud platform for biology R&D teams that integrates electronic lab notebooks, molecular biology design tools (DNA/protein sequence design, CRISPR, etc.), sample inventory management, and data analytics. It enables scientists to design experiments, collaborate in real-time, track samples, and gain insights from experimental data—all in one system instead of using fragmented tools.
How much does Benchling cost? +
Benchling is free for academic researchers. For startups, it starts at $15K per year. Enterprise plans are custom-priced and typically cost $1M+ for large organizations, depending on number of users and features required.
What are alternatives to Benchling? +
Alternatives include DNAnexus (genomics analysis focus), Genedata (legacy LIMS vendor), BenchSci (AI search for research), and broader platforms like Verily and Genuity Science. Each has different strengths—Benchling is unique in combining molecular biology design with unified lab operations.
Who uses Benchling? +
Over 600,000 scientists at more than 1,000 biotech and pharma companies use Benchling. Key customers include Gilead Sciences, Sanofi, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Corteva Agrisciences, and Sana Biotechnology. The platform is used by large enterprises, mid-market research organizations, and early-stage biotech startups.
How does Benchling compare to DNAnexus? +
DNAnexus specializes in genomics data analysis and cloud compute infrastructure, while Benchling is a comprehensive lab operations and experiment design platform. Benchling integrates electronic notebooks, molecular design tools, inventory management, and workflows in a unified system; DNAnexus is better for large-scale genomic data processing and analysis pipelines.
Tags
lab informatics
LIMS
electronic lab notebook
molecular biology design
CRISPR
sequence design
biotech
pharma
cloud research
inventory management