Molly He

This woman raised $600M in 5 years to make high-accuracy sequencing accessible to any lab.

In 2017, Molly He co-founded Element Biosciences, a company built to challenge the monopoly that dominated genomic sequencing.

That monopoly was Illumina, where Molly had spent eight years as a senior director, leading global teams in protein reagent innovation.

But as the field matured, she began to see the cracks.
Illumina’s approach was scaling up.

Serving big customers with massive sample volumes.

The cost was high, and the tools were out of reach for smaller labs, independent researchers, and institutions in developing countries.

The promise of decentralized, democratized sequencing was fading.

So she walked away.

And started over.

Alongside two former Illumina colleagues, Molly launched Element Biosciences out of a 1,200-square-foot basement in San Diego.

Instead of iterating on existing platforms, they tore the entire system down to its technical foundations.

They re-engineered every major component.

The result was a completely new sequencing chemistry (Avidity) that used 100x less reagent, drastically cut costs, and significantly improved signal-to-noise ratios.

In 2022, they released AVITI, a benchtop DNA sequencer that delivered higher accuracy than Illumina, with radically lower costs and a much smaller footprint.

For the first time, smaller labs could run advanced sequencing on-site, without sending samples out or waiting for large-scale batches to be processed.

Element grew to over 320 employees.

The company raised over $600M in funding (including a $277 million Series D in 2024) and brought on high-profile clients like Google and the Broad Institute.

In 2023, the company surpassed $25M in annual revenue.

But for Molly, AVITI was only the beginning.

From day one, she designed the platform to be modular and future-proof.

Capable not just of sequencing DNA, but also of enabling multi-omics: RNA, protein, and epigenetic analysis.

She’s also a prolific inventor, with over 100 patent applications and peer-reviewed publications in Nature and Science.

She speaks openly about the challenges of being a woman, an immigrant, and an Asian founder in biotech.

“I never thought of being a female founder as a strength. Until one day, I realized I do have something to offer society just by standing in this role.”